Archive 19
UkTabloid
The People's News Portal
Thursday 4th June 2009
The British voting system is wide open to fraud by pro-Labour town hall tax-eaters, and despite our repeated proposals on how to fix it and secure fair and honest elections, the toothless Establishment watchdog, the Electoral Commission, has refused to lift a finger.
So once again it is left to ordinary people like us to fight and win the struggle for true democracy in Britain.
The problem comes from the fact that most polling stations are manned by just two people, invariably town hall bureaucrats who ‘work’ in parasite jobs created by the Labour government in order to provide their own people with well-paid easy lives at taxpayers’ expense.
So very often two individuals, who know each other from work and involvement in a far-left public service union, are left in total control of hundreds of ballot papers. Towards the end of the day, it is absurdly easy for such Labour crooks to check down the electoral roll for the names of people who haven’t been in to vote, and to issue themselves their votes, while no-one else is in the polling station.
They simply cross these ‘ghost’ voters off on the electoral roll as if they had been in to vote in person.
This means that the number of votes cast tallies with the number of voters marked as having voted, and no one ever knows the fraud has even taken place.
The only danger they face of getting caught is if someone comes in to vote whose vote they have already stolen, but they deal with this simply by keeping their hands or a piece of paper over the register to block the voter’s view as they issue him or her with the unused ballot paper of someone else who hasn’t voted. Especially in a low turnout election like a European contest, it really is easy and almost foolproof.
Almost, but not quite! All it takes is for one person in any polling district to spot that someone has already used their vote and the police can be called in.
By checking with people who appear to have voted they can then easily find out whether a vote has been stolen by a member of the public coming in and claiming to be someone else (a separate but lesser problem which only exists because of the lately made up rule that voters do not need their polling cards), or whether a larger number of stolen votes have been cast, in which case the finger points very firmly at the bureaucrats running the polling station.
All British National Party members and supporters are urged to be on the lookout for this polling station fraud committed by corrupt officials casting ghost votes this Today.
You can do your bit to make it too risky for anyone except the most crazed Labour activist to risk simply by waiting to vote until quite late in the day (remember that polling stations close at 10 p.m. exactly, so don’t risk getting there so late that you lose your right to vote).
When you go in and tell the official who you are or hand in your polling card, stay close to the table and watch like a hawk as they find you on the list of voters and cross your name off. Make sure that it really is your name and, if by chance you have already been crossed off, take a photo on your mobile of the sheet, and of the official, and CALL THE POLICE IMMEDIATELY.
Then call your local organiser or our telephone hotline number 02070 783286. When the police come insist that they investigate the theft of your vote as the very serious piece of electoral fraud that it would be.
A few years ago the mass use of fraudulent postal votes was the main way in which corrupt local Labour and LibDem politicians especially ‘fought’ the growing public support for the BNP. That led to such a scandal that the postal votes system was tightened up (still not tight enough, but it’s a start).
In areas where our activists have been present at the opening of the postal votes (because without such a presence it is very easy for bent officials to spoil large numbers of BNP votes) the ease with which ghost votes can be cast is now the weapon of choice for Labour’s election-fixers.
It’s a scandal that dwarves the sickening disgrace of MPs’ expenses, because the old party crooks aren’t just taking our taxes, they are stealing the democracy that generations of Britons have given their lives to secure for every British citizen. So please do your bit to fight Labour’s vote stealing – Vote Once, Vote Late! News Source
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European elections YOUR Choice
British National Party: Wants Britain to withdraw from the EU. Believes in a policy of "voluntary resettlement. Wants British Jobs for British Workers first. British control over British Borders to stop uncontrolled Immigration. Armed Forces should be under British control and serve British interests. Wants to restore Britain's traditional weights & Measures. Believes British Parliament and British Courts should be independent to any foreign body.
Conservative Party: Against Britain joining the Euro currency. Wants social and employment legislation returned to British control. Defends the Single Market in Europe. Wants to abolish minimum wage.
English Democrats Party: Wants an English Government. Wants Britain to withdraw from the EU and rejoin the European Free Trade Association.
Fair Pay Fair Trade Party: Organised social movement to help primary producers in developing countries by only importing fair trade products.
Liberal Democrats: Pro-EU and wants open Borders. Wants more accountability on MEPs' pay and expenses. Wants the EU's total annual budget not to exceed one per cent of the GDP of all member states.
Libertas.eu: Pro-EU but dedicated to EU reform; scrapping secret meetings and introducing auditing of EU expenses.
Mebyon Kernow: Wants self-government for Cornwall in the same way as Scotland and Wales.
No2EU: Left-wingers under the auspices of the Socialist Party which stands for workers' rights and public services.
Pensioners' Party: Aims to improve pensioners rights, and improve state pensions in line with Europe. Wants free health, as well as free residential and nursing care for pensioners. Also free travel and subsidised utility bills.
Socialist Labour Party: Left-wing party which wants to leave the EU.
The Green Party: Believes in internationalism therefore pro EU but also believes that some decisions are best taken at regional level. Wants a zero carbon economy. Wants to legalise some Hard drugs. Wants to stop the BNP.
The Labour Party: Pro-EU and Immigration. Wants reform to make Europe more competitive. Wants to work with EU to tackle climate change. Wants some reform of Common Agricultural Policy. Wants a New world Order. Believes strongly in Positive Discrimination. Wants Britain to adopt the Euro.
United Kingdom Independence Party: A One motive party that believes Britain should withdraw from the EU and use the free trade agreements used by non-EU nations.
There You Have it. Now go cast your votes!
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Sky News has humiliated itself by publishing a totally bogus report on internet reach, deliberately distorting figures to try and talk up the fake UKIP party ahead of tomorrow’s European elections.
In an article titled ‘UKIP Receive Google Boost Ahead Of Elections’, Sky News falsely claims that more people are searching for UKIP than any political party on Google, including the BNP.
The evidence they use for this is a graph which compares searches for ‘UKIP’ and then the other parties’ names spelled out such as ‘British National Party.’
On that graph, the searches for UKIP are in the lead, but, as BNP webmaster Simon Bennett pointed out, this is wholly inaccurate.
“It is comparing apples and eggs,” Mr Bennett told BNP News. “If you search under ‘UKIP’, then you should compare that to a search under ‘BNP’ and not the spelled out name of the party.
“No one searches under UKIP spelled out, and very few search under ‘British National Party’ spelled out. Most search under the acronym, BNP, as they do with UKIP,” he said.
Once a comparison between searches performed under ‘UKIP’ versus ‘BNP’ is plotted on Google, the situation is dramatically reversed.
“This shows that searches for BNP rank at more than three and half times higher than for UKIP, and five times higher than for all the other parties,” Mr Bennett said.
“Sky News has engaged in this distortion deliberately in order to try and hype up UKIP.”
For a far more accurate appraisal of internet rankings, viewers only have to look at the official Alexa web rankings as revealed at the bottom of this web page. There it can be seen that the BNP website is nearly ten times more popular than UKIP, which bears out the Google figures.
“This is just another laughable attempt by a desperate establishment to boost their fake UKIP party out of fear of a BNP advance,” Mr Bennett said.
“Fortunately the hitting power of the BNP website more than compensates for the lying media’s attempts at smearing us and fewer people believe the mass media as a result,” Mr Bennett said. News Source
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In a day that saw the resignations of an unprecedented four ministers in Gordon Browns government the obituary writers are busy drafting the words on Labours three term government.
Speculation as to who will be moved where is occupying much of the debate now; will Ed Balls become the new Chancellor, and potentially provoking a backlash from Blairites? What job will Darling take when he moves from No.11? And will Lord Mandelson be given the coveted job of Foreign Secretary?
Clearly the June 4 results will act as true barometer of what the nation feels about Gordon Brown and the Labour party.
Moreover the elections will be the first opportunity for London to express its anger at the state of the economy, the expenses scandal and also if there is enough momentum for the Conservatives to claim credibly they are a party waiting to assume office.
The Conservatives are confident of taking four seats on June 4 which will mean for the first time in many years the Conservatives will be the majority party for London in Brussels.
The decision by David Cameron to withdraw from the European Peoples Party (EPP) is coming under fire from business groups reports the FT. The EEF manufacturer’s body is quoted in the FT as saying:
"The Conservatives taking a decision that is bound to reduce our influence in Europe is not helpful to business".
What is alarming for the main parties is the potential for significant wins for the smaller parties like and the BNP and UKIP who are both anti-European and staunchly anti-federalist.
The FT has said that "EU observers" have warned against Cameron and the Conservatives splitting from the EPP and forming a new anti-federalist party and would see "Conservative MEPs elected tomorrow would be marginalised in the new parliament".
The electorate will have a very tough choice, turnout is projected to be around 40-50 per cent across London, we may well see some very interesting results on Sunday when the final results come through across the EU.
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Voters must put aside their anger over national scandals in tomorrow's European elections to counter the threat of extremism, Brussels is warning.
Punishing governments over domestic political crises will benefit far-Right or far-Left candidates, said the president of the European Parliament.
Hans-Gert Poettering appealed to the 375 million Europeans eligible to vote to focus on wider issues such as the economy and climate change.
Scandals over parliamentary expenses in Britain, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's love life and business dealings, and a damning report of decades of child abuse by priests in Ireland have dominated headlines in the run-up to polling.
But they should be left to local and national elections, Mr Poettering said.
Opinion polls point to a low turnout across the European Union and protest votes could help extremists such as the racist British National Party.
But most of us don't even want to to belong to your corrupt EU Mr Poettering!
Furthermore the extremists are those such as yourself and the British Government that denied us a referendum! The only racists we see here are those in the EU who enforced our spineless government to impose affirmative action when translated means 'Discrimination against white British Men' so who is the racist?
And as we have said on many occasions.. if you are a Racist, extremist or dictator the only way to take that emphasis of yourself is to constantly accuse others of it hoping some of the smears would stick on others! (Ed)
'The EU should not be held hostage to domestic quarrels,” the German head of the European assembly said.
Britain should not have been a hostage to the EU, we should have been given a choice!
'People who vote in this week's local elections ... should differentiate between national and European issues.
Why? Meps were shown to be on the the gravy train much the same as MPs!
'Voters shouldn't use the European elections as a backlash against national governments. It should be about a strong European Union.
No they shouldn't but the backlash is also against the European Union which is full of the same as we have in our government back in the UK!
'We cannot solve the financial crisis or climate change just at national level. Economic recovery can only be solved at EU and a global level.'
Wanna bet! If we didn't have to fork out and bail out other countries in this crisis we wouldn't had need to have borrowed insanely as the British government had, we would had been in a better position to cope with the current economic climate and without the massive debt that the taxpayer has been lumbered with which our children and grandchildren will be paying off for decades when they become employed! (Ed)
Britain is also holding local council elections today and a number of other countries are holding local elections simultaneously with their EU polls.
Brussels fears European issues will get lost amid public fury at blunders by national politicians.
Opinion polls suggest fewer than half the eligible voters in the 27 EU member states will take part in four days of voting that start today - in Britain and the Netherlands - and end in other nations on Sunday.
Brussels knows that few of the EU's 495 million citizens have much interest in the Parliament or much knowledge of what it does, even though it shapes many pan-European laws, (Like the 85% of British laws that are made by Brussels? (Ed) endorses the EU executive and budget, and will gain power under the EU's Lisbon reform treaty.
Centrists are expected to remain dominant among the 736 MEPs in the chamber but votes for fringe parties would give them a valuable propaganda coup.
The lowest turnout for elections to the assembly was the 45.5 per cent recorded last time around in 2004.
But some polls suggest even more may stay away from the ballot box this time.
Other national matters that could influence voters include a desire in Germany to test the waters before a general election in September.
In France, the ruling centre-right UMP fears a rise in support for the far-Right.
Voters in some Eastern European nations are expected to use the ballot box to protest against their governments’ failures to avert economic meltdown.
Results from Britain and the bloc’s other 26 nations are expected from 9pm on Sunday.
The new Parliament's tasks will include helping shape -- and pass -- laws on anything from the environment to supervision of Europe's financial system to try to avert another credit crunch. News Source
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Britons must say "NO" to another unelected dictator!
Gordon Brown faced a lightning coup after the shock resignation of Hazel Blears yesterday.
The embattled Prime Minister could be forced to quit in days say senior backbenchers who aim to amass 75 MPs' names on a letter calling on him to go. A possible replacement could be Health Secretary Alan Johnson. Barry Sheerman, who chairs the Commons children's committee, said that “across the party, there is a disillusionment with the way the parliamentary party has been consulted, treated and valued”.
The plot gathered pace after Communities Secretary Ms Blears quit the Cabinet. Ms Blears dropped her bombshell 90 minutes before Prime Minister's Questions and the day before the local and European elections. As if to underline her message, the minister, under fire over her expenses claims, wore a brooch bearing the words “Rocking the Boat”.
Mr Sheerman said Mr Brown was “heading for trouble”, adding: “If you lose your base of support, and if even the Cabinet starts to feel unhappy with the leadership of the Prime Minister, then that is one indication of unhappiness and it destabilises a regime. If you do that with a broader group of colleagues in the parliamentary party, right across the political spectrum, then you are really in trouble and you've got to do something fast before it gets unstoppable.”
Mr Sheerman is the most heavyweight figure to call on Mr Brown to go. Cabinet ministers are said to be ready to call for his resignation if he ignores the revolt. One MP said: “It's 50/50 whether he lasts beyond Monday. If he went on Monday night, there could be a new leader by Tuesday and probably a general election in October or November. Continued
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The expenses scandal could help produce "the most volatile voting patterns in living memory" in tomorrow's European elections, with the British National Party winning as many as five seats and the Greens also making big gains, according to a report published yesterday.
As parties prepare for a final day of campaigning before voters go to the polls to elect six Euro MPs for Yorkshire and the Humber, think-tank Democratic Audit said conventional opinion polls could be misleading in an election where turnout is likely to be low and where regional variations may be crucial.
Controversy over MPs' expenses and the recession could combine with the proportional voting system used in the Euro-elections to produce a significant drop in support for the main parties and major gains for smaller groupings, said think-tank director Stuart Wilks-Heeg, the author of the report What are European Elections For?
"This promises to be one of the most unusual elections we have ever seen," said Dr Wilks-Heeg. "The voting system, the current political climate, and regional concentrations of support could see smaller parties fare exceptionally well today."
With all three major parties engulfed in the expenses scandal, activists fear the BNP, UK Independence Party and Greens could prosper when the results are announced on Sunday.
Labour accused the Tories of taking the country to the margins of Europe by planning to withdraw from the centre-right European People's Party group in Brussels.
But the Tories raised the pressure on Gordon Brown by publishing a bill to pave the way for a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.
The Bill is ready to be introduced if they win the general election and includes provision to repeal the UK's ratification of Lisbon in the case of a No vote.
Tory leader David Cameron said he would not let the Prime Minister "off the hook" over Lisbon and urged voters to use the June 4 election to put pressure on Mr Brown to deliver on Labour's manifesto promise of a referendum on the European Constitution.
Meanwhile, the UK Independence Party yesterday introduced a Constitutional Reform Bill in the House of Lords which would take Britain out of the European Union, repeal the Human Rights Act and introduce binding referendum powers at national and local level.
Voters in North Yorkshire will also be electing county councillors tomorrow, while in Doncaster a new mayor will be voted in. News Source
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Primary schoolchildren are set to be taught how to spot potential terror suspects as part of a police strategy to tackle extremism.
Lancashire Police has made a DVD featuring animated animals in a bid to teach children about the dangers of fundamentalism.
The force's new Preventing Violent Extremism unit said the DVD aimed to teach youngsters about terrorism and fundamentalism in an 'accessible way'.
Children will be encouraged to inform on their classmates if they feel other pupils are expressing extremist views
The video features a talking lion, who explains that a terrorist can look like anyone, and urges children to tell the police, their parents or a teacher if they hear anyone talking about terror related activity.
It also uses the example of Guy Fawkes saying that his strong views began forming when he was at school in York.
Youngsters at Belmont Primary School in Bolton will be shown the video at the annual Streetwise open day later this month in nearby Blackburn.
Streetwise has taught children about issues such as fire, water hazards and home safety for 16 years, but this month's event will be the first to feature terrorism.
A police spokesman said: 'It's something that we need to be aware of across the country.
'We're not trying to scare anybody. We're just raising awareness which hopefully will help in the long term.'
Oh yes! and any opposition that attempts to make people aware for example, migration issues such as the BNP, they are instantly accused of exploitation! Therefore the state makes it awareness and anyone else, exploits. Hmn' we see where this is going! (Ed)
He said the focus on terrorism was not just aimed at Islamic fundamentalists, but also animal rights extremists and other groups.
He added: 'We're trying to introduce it to them at an early stage - not just terrorism, but any incident.
'Children have much more access to the media these days, and we want to target them in a different way and direct them to who they can approach for help.'
Belmont headteacher Chris Hoddle said he was not aware of the specific content of Streetwise but he praised the police for organising the event.
He said: 'Streetwise is a good event. It's very well organised and it is always child-friendly.
'I am looking forward to seeing what the content is and I'm sure it will be appropriate.' News Source
The Extremist label is applied to those with opposing views as a means to quash opposition by communists.
However, the Real Extremists are those that push through draconian legislation without consulting the general public and at the same time, deny us a referendum on important issues that affects each and every one of us directly!
The above news article confirms that this is indoctrination and some might even describe it as grooming children into a one view politics! If you ever fear a Police state society then you are wise to as this is now well and truly implemented! (Ed)
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London mayor Boris Johnson is planning to double the number of sites for travellers and gipsies across the city.
There will be 768 caravan pitches created in eight years, taking the number of permanent pitches to almost 1,500.
A report commissioned by the Mayor said between 37 and 55 sites would be created.
The Mayor has consulted the boroughs, gipsies and travellers and the scheme will become part of the London Plan, which will be published later this year.
An investigation into gipsy sites by London Councils, which represents the boroughs, found 15 per cent of caravans were on unauthorised land and that facilities were poor.
Traveller groups say the pitches are badly needed.
Most of the extra pitches will be in Bromley, Ealing, Bexley and Haringey, with only Westminster and the City avoided.
Mr Johnson argues that he has been forced to improve traveller accommodation by central Government.
A senior City Hall source said: 'There's a distinct feeling we have been painted into a corner here.' News Source
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Imagine you are sat there and your child comes in from school, greets you, hands you a communist party leaflet and then proceeds to lecture you on who you should vote for in tomorrows elections.
And should you question your child on just who had turned them into communist canvassing agents, you would or should be bloody furious, if you were to discover that their school had told them what they and you should think.
A Bristol school is believed to be the first in the city to use an anti-British National Party leaflet in lessons to teach teenagers about political issues.
The leaflet being given to pupils at the City Academy in Lawrence Hill is published by a national campaign group called the Unite Against Fascism coalition.
Principal Dr Ray Priest, who has just forfeited his pension some time down the road, said: "We have a responsibility to teach young people about tolerance, caring for each other and respecting each other.
"The policies of parties such as the BNP do not represent any of these things and therefore, in my view, should have no place in our society."
Dr Priest, a supporter of the political terrorist group, the UAF, said pupils were not being told in lessons, 'Don't vote for the BNP' but he said schools had a responsibility to take a proactive position in society.
No, Doctor of What? Schools only have a duty to provide an education and you have overstepped the mark by a long way. Your report card is now well and truly marked and your future forfeited.
Another communist, whose card is marked is Paulette North, one of the teachers who handed out the leaflets on behalf of the UAF and NUT who paid for them, said teachers and non-teaching staff from all unions had been handing out the leaflets to pupils after school and urging them to tell their parents not to vote for the BNP.
So what is it to be Doctor Bloody Liar Priest? Your claim that you are not telling people who to vote for is demolished by your own staff.
The only one speaking in any sense in this shameful tale, was Peter Mullins, South West regional organiser for the BNP, who said he was saddened to hear that the leaflets were being given to children.
He said: "This is absolutely awful – beyond the pale. It is a step too far, as far as politics is concerned.
"Children should be allowed to enjoy their childhood. They should not be being indoctrinated with one-way political beliefs."
You are right Peter, it is sad. God but the BNP are going to have their work cut out fixing things when they finally become the government of the day.
The City Academy, Bristol
Russell Town Avenue, Redfield, Bristol BS5 9JH
Tel: (0117) 941-3800 Fax: (0117) 954-2857
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- Hazel Blears resigns from Cabinet on eve of elections
- Fears latest departure will be a tipping point for Brown
- Cameron says his authority has 'simply disappeared'
- PM now faces 'e-mail plot' from Labour MPs who want him gone
- Even the left-wing Guardian says he must go now
Hazel Blears piled further pressure on Gordon Brown today by resigning from the Cabinet and delivering a bitter parting shot that Labour must 'reconnect' with the public.
The Communities Secretary became the fourth Government minister to hand in their notice in 24 hours after Jacqui Smith led a wave of departures yesterday.
Mr Brown is now in an even more perilous position on the eve of tomorrow's local and European elections, with his Cabinet reshuffle in utter chaos.
There was immediate speculation the latest resignation this morning, just hours before Mr Brown had to face David Cameron at question time, was a bid to finally force him from No.10.
Both Miss Smith and Miss Blears are known to be close allies of Europe Minister Caroline Flint, raising the prospect she too could be about to stand down.
Labour backbenchers were also said to be preparing an e-mail campaign to urge colleagues to declare they have no confidence in their leader, ready to send out after the elections.
In PMQs, Mr Cameron declared Mr Brown's 'dysfunctional' Government was 'collapsing before our eyes' and urged: 'Get down to the Palace, ask for a dissolution, call an election.'
Blears told Mr Brown of her decision face-to-face this morning. Downing Street said he 'respects and understands' the move.
Unlike Miss Smith, she is standing down with immediate effect and officials said she would be replaced 'very shortly' although her successor is unlikely to be announced today.
The minister had been widely expected to lose her job in the reshuffle after Mr Brown branded her expense claims 'totally unacceptable'.
She came under fire for dodging £13,000 in capital gains tax on the sale of her second home. She also angered Mr Brown by publicly attacking his YouTube address on expenses reform.
Her early departure could prove a potential tipping point for his leadership by sparking an open battle in Labour ranks to prise him from No.10.
'We have a Government that is in complete meltdown. I think the game is up for Gordon Brown,' shadow leader of the House Theresa May said.
Blears is said to have taken the drastic step after being blamed by Downing Street for leaking Miss Smith's departure yesterday.
She issued a carefully-worded attack on how far Labour have sunk under Mr Brown's leadership in her resignation statement.
'The role of a progressive Government should be to pass power to the people,' she said. 'I am returning to the grassroots, to political activism, to the cut and thrust of political debate.
'Most of all I want to help the Labour Party to reconnect with the British people, to remind them that our values are their values, that their hopes and dreams are ours too.' Continued
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Fresh allegations over Hazel Blears' expenses emerged today after she announced her resignation as Communities Secretary. Miss Blears was said to have avoided capital gains tax (CGT) on a second taxpayer-funded property.
The allegations emerged just hours after her resignation piled the pressure on Gordon Brown, still reeling from a string of ministerial departures.
Some Whitehall sources claimed the new allegations drove Miss Blears to resign, while friends of the minister insisted they were part of a Downing Street smear operation.
Last month the Salford MP apologised to voters for not paying capital gains tax and voluntarily handed over a cheque for more than £13,000.
But that sum covered profits from the sale of two properties, rather than just her flat in Kennington, south London, as previously thought. A Cabinet Office compliance unit reportedly found evidence of the second case when it was trawling through ministers' files.
In both instances, Miss Blears apparently declared the properties as second homes to claim Commons allowances, before designating them as main homes for tax purposes in order to avoid CGT.
A spokesman for Miss Blears said: "The information about Hazel's flats and CGT has been on her public website since May 15.
"She made it clear both on the website and to HM Revenue & Customs that she was talking about two flats, and the amount of money she paid was calculated on the basis of both flats. This is not new information."
The spokesman insisted the allegations had "nothing to do with her decision to resign".
A friend of Miss Blears also questioned why the details emerged today, saying it appeared to be "a classic smear operation".
Other sources pointed the finger at Downing Street and questioned whether allies of Mr Brown had waited until after the Community Secretary announced her resignation to 'blacken her name'.
Tory housing spokesman Grant Shapps also accused Downing Street of trying to smear Mrs Blears. "Number 10 does not seem to have changed," he told Radio 4's The World at One.
She follows Jacqui Smith to become the fourth Government minister to resign in 24 hours and left with a bitter parting shot that Labour must 'reconnect' with the public.
Blears resignation came just hours before Mr Brown had to face David Cameron at question time and appeared carefully timed to inflict the most damage to his attempts to cling on to power.
Both Miss Smith and Miss Blears are known to be close friends of Europe Minister Caroline Flint, raising the prospect she too could be about to stand down. News Source
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Anyone who has seen the movie 'Idiocracy' would definitely be able to see the similarity between the movie and our society today. They intend to lock up litter bugs for as long as they can! Meanwhile Rapists, muggers and Paedophiles walk away with slapped wrists. The UK gone MAD!
People caught dropping litter would be 'locked up for as long as possible,' a hardline police chief has warned.
Chief Supt Chris Hogben's tough stance means litterbugs could spend up to 24 hours in a police cell for dropping a single chocolate bar wrapper or cigarette butt.
The hardline officer warned he would not accept any 'sob stories' from anyone trying to get out of the offence following a successful purge on vandals in Dover, Kent.
Mr Hogben said: 'I believe our job is to enforce the law. We will not have them dropping litter. It's not being petty, these are the standards the community expects.
'Anyone who commits any of these offences can expect sanctions. They will be arrested and locked in a cell for as long as we can legally do it.
'They have to understand that if they don't obey the rules they are going to get penalised for it.'
He told the Kent Messenger that police would not tolerate people dropping litter and would accept no excuses from offenders.
A Kent Police spokesman confirmed it was possible for litterbugs to be arrested under the Environmental Protection Act and be detained for up to 24 hours.
They would then either have to be charged with an offence and put before a magistrates court, given a £50 fixed penalty notice (fine), caution, warning or released without charge.
However the police chief's comments have divided opinion in the busy port town.
Carolyn West, 41, who runs a greengrocer's said she agreed with the hardline stance.
'Good on him, I'm totally fed up with seeing louts just chucking their crisp packets and McDonald's wrappers all over the place, it makes the place look terrible,' she said.
But sociology student Craig Relf, 21, said: 'I think the idea of effectively jailing someone for two days for dropping a fag butt is a bit much. The words police state come to mind, I'm afraid.'
Local authority Dover District Council said measures were already in place to ensure the town's streets stay clean.
The council said: 'Dover District Council is committed to clamping down on fly tipping and littering across the district to make it a cleaner district and one to be proud of.
'The Council carries out sweeping and inspections of all areas on a regular basis and through the council's contractors, roads are cleansed following a regular regime to ensure that high standards are maintained.' News Source
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Food price inflation in Britain is running almost four times higher than the rest of Europe as the biggest supermarkets have enjoyed a profits bonanza.
New figures from the OECD put the annual figure in Britain at 8.6 per cent in the year to April, compared to an average of 2.2 per cent for the EU.
The increase in the cost of putting food on the table looks even more alarming when comparing the UK to similar economies like Germany, France and the US.
In the year when UK consumers were hit by the 8.6 per cent increase, food shoppers in Germany saw a fall of 0.7 per cent, while the figure in France rose just 0.8 per cent.
The increase in America was just 2.3 per cent, while the figure was 1.9 per cent in Belgium.
Among countries showing a fall in the cost of food were Ireland at -1.7 per cent, Portugal at -1.3 per cent and Spain at -0.1 per cent.
The big increases in the cost of food essentials have hurt British consumers by adding hundreds of pounds to annual household bills.
By contrast, the profits at the big four supermarkets - Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda and Morrisons - have ballooned.
A fall in the value of the pound against the Euro and other currencies has artificially inflated the price of importing food from Europe and beyond.
However, this does not explain the full scale of the disparity in food price rises between Britain and most of the Western world.
Recent industry figures make clear the stores have failed to pass on huge falls in the wholesale price of rice and potatoes.
A number of farming organisations have argued that producers have only received a fraction of the price rise inflicted by stores on customers.
Big stores are taking a much bigger slice of the purchase price of cheese than a year ago. There have been similar complaints on free-range eggs.
Sainsbury's recently announced that its profits rose by a higher than expected 11.3 per cent last year to hit £543million. As a result, chief executive Justin King is in line for a pay, perks and bonus approaching £6million.
Tesco profits ballooned to a record £3.13billion at the same time, a rise of 10 per cent, confirming its position as Britain's biggest and richest retailer.
Profits at Morrisons rose £43million - 7 per cent - to £635million. Asda, whose profit figures are buried in the accounts of its U.S. owner, Wal-Mart, has reportedly done even better than most of its rivals.
The OECD figures, which cover 30 major economies, also suggest Britons have not benefited from the fall in wholesale energy prices.
The data shows an annual increase of 0.4 per cent in the year to April, which compares to a fall of 5.6 per cent for the EU.
Energy prices in Germany showed a fall of 5.2 per cent, while the figure came down 13.2 per cent in France and a staggering 25.2 per cent in the USA.
The Lib-Dem shadow Treasury spokesman, Dr Vince Cable, has made clear that supermarkets should not be creaming off extra profit at the expense of shoppers.
He said: 'There is clear evidence that food and commodity prices are falling around the world. These should be passed on by retailers.
'There really is no excuse for supermarkets to take advantage of the situation to fatten up their profit margins.' News Source
Wednesday 3rd June 2009
We don't normally promote books or any other sundries on UKT but we occasionally make an exception if it has bearing on current political climate.
This is what many of our war veterans thoughts on PC Britain really are, and not what our politicians claim on their behalf as they further their own global agenda! (Ed)
Tank On The Tarmac - Desert Rat Demands Book Goes to 10 Downing Street!
A WW2 Veteran, ex North Africa Tank Crew and Prisoner of the Nazi Stalag camps demands book of veterans views is sent to PM Gordon Brown.
Since Autumn 2006, Nick Pringle has been hearing from World War Two veterans to find out what they think of the UK today as well as record some of their unique wartime memories.
He has heard from well over 150, from a wide range of backgrounds; RAF Lancaster bomber crew, ex POW’s, D-Day veterans, Arctic Convoy sailors, Land Army girls etc. The letters are now available in a book, The Unknown Warriors www.theunknownwarriors.co.uk
Nick was asked to send the book to Downing Street by one of the contributing war heroes, who was taken prisoner while serving in the Tank Regiment in North Africa and spent the rest of the war as a prisoner in the Stalag camps and who wrote after reading a copy
‘I thought it would be a good idea if Prime Minister Gordon Brown had an idea of what my generation thought of this country with immigration and do goody political correctness.
I would be grateful if you could send him a copy." Sixty five years ago this month he was sitting aboard a train coming back from a hospital in Breslau, after the German doctors said he was just ‘malingering’ and noticed his guard had a newspaper with the the headlines that, the Allied invasion of Europe had failed.
He didn’t believe that version, but thought something must be happening and swapped it for 3 English cigarettes from his Red Cross ration pack then smuggled it back into the camp for his mates to read.
Nick said "The book should be landing on the doormat of Downing Street anytime now. It has been a great privilege hearing from so many wonderful, brave men and women who served this country with great bravery.
I think many World War Two war veterans get sick of hearing politicians telling people what they fought for, feel their generations needs and opinions have been ignored, and are none to impressed with how the country is today.
A country that so many of their friends and family gave their lives for. "Mr Churchill must turn in his grave"
eg.
Blitz Nurse
"They were the people we fought - our folk, and our country. They were worth our blood sweat and tears. For today’s society I would not have done it."
Sptifire Armourer, Battle of Britain, Biggin Hill
"If my fallen comrades could return to this country today, they would wonder who the victors were."
Desert Rat & Ex POW of the Stalag Camps
Photo - The Letterbox goes full circle - On top; original letters received after sending appeal to letters pages of regional newspapers from this letterbox, the letterbox was used to send correspondence to the war veterans and now the letters in all one book, seconds before it got dropped into the letterbox heading for No. 10 Downing Street. High res image avaible on request.
The book is available WORLDWIDE for order exclusively via the website www.theunknownwarriors.co.uk
Paperback £11.99 323 printed pages
Contact;
Nick Pringle njpringle@hotmail.com
Front cover - Lads of the 1st Battalion Green Howards, including Nick's, Great Uncle, Warrant Officer II Martin Durkin, at the top of the stairs. Killed in action - Sicily, August 1943.
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Cricket hero Andrew Flintoff launched an extraordinarily outspoken attack on the state of the nation yesterday.
The England star – known as Freddie – blamed rap music for the knife crime epidemic sweeping Britain.
He said:
soaring immigration was the cause of the country’s problems
and said it annoys him when hotel receptionists do not speak English.
The all-rounder – infamous for his drunken antics on cricket tours – even had a dig at Britain’s binge-drinking culture.
He said he would be horrified if his daughter were old enough to go out to bars in the city where he lives.
Flintoff, 31, said: “I have no problems with a multicultural society, I think that is to the benefit of the country.
“But you have to be careful what levels you take it to.
“It annoys me when I phone a hotel receptionist in my own country and they don’t understand what I am saying because they don’t speak English. I think that’s wrong. It’s nothing to do with being politically correct or incorrect, it’s just not right.”
Flintoff, who has three children – Holly, four, and sons Corey, three, and Rocky, one, with wife Rachael, 30 – said
he was worried by our increasingly violent culture.
“I see Manchester on a Friday night and I would be horrified seeing my daughter going to the bars. There are places I wouldn’t go to.
“You see these reports of stabbings, bottling's, shootings, and you think, ‘that is happening to this country?’ Our reputation abroad is getting worse. We are seen as a violent country now.”
“I think rap music has a lot to do with it. It makes it sound cool not to conform, to be violent.”
He said he believes sport can play a vital role, adding: “Cricket kept me away from trouble.” He called for sport to be brought back as a compulsory subject for all schoolchildren.
“It tackles everything from child obesity to drug abuse and binge drinking.
“A lot of kids don’t get the chance to play sport.”
In an interview with GQ magazine he said if he was Prime Minister his priority would be knife and gun crime, homelessness and the financial crisis, but “so many things need fixing”.
On cricket, he admitted England’s victorious 2005 Ashes squad let themselves get seduced by celebrity culture.
“We were on a big high for a while,” he said.
“We were getting invited everywhere, and I should have turned a lot of them down.
“We turned up in Pakistan a few months later thinking it would be easy, and got a rude wake-up call.”
The team should have remembered they “were cricketers, not celebrities”, he admitted. News Source
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Cricket hero Andrew Flintoff launched an extraordinarily outspoken attack on the state of the nation yesterday.
The England star – known as Freddie – blamed rap music for the knife crime epidemic sweeping Britain.
He said:
soaring immigration was the cause of the country’s problems
and said it annoys him when hotel receptionists do not speak English.
The all-rounder – infamous for his drunken antics on cricket tours – even had a dig at Britain’s binge-drinking culture.
He said he would be horrified if his daughter were old enough to go out to bars in the city where he lives.
Flintoff, 31, said: “I have no problems with a multicultural society, I think that is to the benefit of the country.
“But you have to be careful what levels you take it to.
“It annoys me when I phone a hotel receptionist in my own country and they don’t understand what I am saying because they don’t speak English. I think that’s wrong. It’s nothing to do with being politically correct or incorrect, it’s just not right.”
Flintoff, who has three children – Holly, four, and sons Corey, three, and Rocky, one, with wife Rachael, 30 – said
he was worried by our increasingly violent culture.
“I see Manchester on a Friday night and I would be horrified seeing my daughter going to the bars. There are places I wouldn’t go to.
“You see these reports of stabbings, bottling's, shootings, and you think, ‘that is happening to this country?’ Our reputation abroad is getting worse. We are seen as a violent country now.”
“I think rap music has a lot to do with it. It makes it sound cool not to conform, to be violent.”
He said he believes sport can play a vital role, adding: “Cricket kept me away from trouble.” He called for sport to be brought back as a compulsory subject for all schoolchildren.
“It tackles everything from child obesity to drug abuse and binge drinking.
“A lot of kids don’t get the chance to play sport.”
In an interview with GQ magazine he said if he was Prime Minister his priority would be knife and gun crime, homelessness and the financial crisis, but “so many things need fixing”.
On cricket, he admitted England’s victorious 2005 Ashes squad let themselves get seduced by celebrity culture.
“We were on a big high for a while,” he said.
“We were getting invited everywhere, and I should have turned a lot of them down.
“We turned up in Pakistan a few months later thinking it would be easy, and got a rude wake-up call.”
The team should have remembered they “were cricketers, not celebrities”, he admitted. News Source
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Phil Woolas admitted the Government does not have a clue how many bogus students are at large in the UK.
After being asked repeatedly by MPs how many student visa cheats may be living here, the immigration minister replied: 'It is best not to guess if you are not sure.'
His remarks echoed Tony Blair's response, during the 2005 General Election campaign, to being asked 20 times how many illegal immigrants were living in the UK.
Mr Blair offered only the statement that: 'You cannot determine specifically how many people are here illegally.' Months later, his Government produced a figure of 570,000.
Critics point to the fact that - unlike Mr Blair - Mr Woolas does not have the defence of not knowing how many illegals had sneaked into the country in the back of lorries.
Every bogus student in the country was allowed in by the Government, which handed them a visa. There have been concerns terrorists recognised the student visa route was the easiest into the UK, and exploited it.
The only clue Mr Woolas was prepared to offer on the scale of the bogus colleges problem was that, where there had been 4,000 colleges registered to take foreign students in the past, there are now only 1,600.
This suggests that more than 2,000 colleges may have been bogus and - after the Home Office finally tightened the rules earlier this year - have now ceased to exist.
With around 300,000 student visas handed out each year, tens of thousands are likely to have been handed to people attending bogus colleges.
At the same home affairs committee hearing, Tony Millns, chief executive of the Government-approved English UK, described bogus colleges as a 'national disgrace'.
He was asked by MPs if there could be tens of thousands of bogus students in the UK. Mr Millns replied: 'Quite easily, quite easily.'
Mr Millns also warned of continuing loopholes in the college system, which have yet to be closed by ministers.
He highlighted the fact that newly-opened colleagues will be able to open for up to six months before they have to be fully accredited by the authorities.
During that time they could bring hundreds of bogus students into the country.
The inquiry follows allegations that thousands of young Pakistani students have maned to exploit the previously lax laws governing student visas.
The gateway is said to have allowed in hundreds of men from a region of Pakistan that is the militant heartland of al-Qaeda and the Pakistani Taliban.
Eight of the terror suspects arrested two months ago in Manchester and Liverpool, in north-west England, were on the books of one college. It had three small classrooms and three teachers for the 1,797 students on its books.
No charges were brought against the students, but all are facing deportation on grounds of national security. Continued
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Two Serbian nationals have been found guilty of attempting to smuggle £36m of drugs into Southampton Docks.
Dusan Mileusnic, 49, and Negovan Jovanovic, 58, were convicted by a jury on a ten to two majority verdict this afternoon at Winchester Crown Court.
The convictions follow the clearing of Ukrainians Yaroslav Ksenzovets, 35, and Sergiy Khodos, 26, earlier today by the jury.
Four men have already been found guilty of the same offence after customs officers found 12.5 tonnes of cannabis resin when they searched the Abbira tug in April last year.
Israeli nationals Moshe Kedar, 81, and Mordechai Hersh, 67, and Serbian nationals Goran Otovic, 54, and Dragon Stankovic, 54, were convicted on Friday at Winchester Crown Court.
The six men are due to be sentenced this Thursday. News Source
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Why Illegal Immigration thrives in Britain!
A bakery which supplied croissants to Marks & Spencer used 'slave labour' in what watchdogs have condemned as scandalous exploitation.
The French Croissant Company employed staff provided by a gangmaster who paid below the minimum wage and hired illegal immigrants.
Yesterday the Gangmasters Licensing Authority revoked the licence of the firm involved, 1st Universal Services Ltd, and said the contract price paid by the bakery was so low that no gangmaster could have paid fair wages.
The watchdog said its investigation had uncovered 'shocking abuse' by the gangmaster firm.
The watchdog found that the workers, who were preparing dough for croissants at a plant in North London, were often not paid at all and were not allowed to take any holiday.
Most were men in their 20s and 30s. Their documentation suggested they were from Somalia, Sweden, India and Eritrea.
Checks made by the GLA found some were illegal immigrants. Most were paid below the official minimum wage for an adult of £5.73 an hour.
Workers who were due wages on a weekly basis were not paid on time, while one had not been paid anything for almost a month.
Fake ID and national insurance documents were found, alongside false passports. Workers signatures were forged on employment contracts.
The staff said they feared taking time off sick and were not allowed any holiday.
GLA chairman Paul Whitehouse said The French Croissant Company had to share the blame as its failures could not be considered mistakes. Continued
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The convener of the Global Day of Prayer London has delivered a tough call to Christians in the UK to wake up and take an uncompromising stand for their faith.
More than 10,000 Christians in London prayed in each of the capital's 33 boroughs as part of the Global Day of Prayer held across 219 countries on Pentecost Sunday.
Speaking at the Newham prayer meeting in East London, Pastor Jonathan Oloyede said that it was time for Christians to pray and act. He warned in particular of the threat posed by ungodly legislation being passed by Parliament and plans to build a so-called mega mosque at the site of the London Olympics.
"I used to be a Muslim. The Muslims don't just want to build a mosque. They want to take over.
If you want to roll over and play dead while the legacy of your forefathers is thrown in the dust and you can't stand up and say enough is enough then you are not fit to be a Christian," he said.
Pastor Oloyede said Christians in the UK needed to "stop trying to be nice and cute" in the face of threats to their faith and the wellbeing of the nation.
"All that stuff about not offending anyone is nonsense. I used to try to be nice to everyone but God said to me: You cannot be my messenger by being nice to everybody. So are you going to just play nice or are you going to be a follower of Christ?" he said.
He stressed that he was not asking Christians to be violent or unkind but rather to be bold and "true to the calling you have as a citizen of the Kingdom". Pastor Oloyede went on to urge Christians to be true believers by living out their faith.
"Many Muslims behave better than us Christians. Don't be compromised. Be a Christian or don't be. Stay in your nightclubs or come to church. Either be for God or be against him. There is no in between," he said.
He told Christians that the future of Christianity in the UK lay in their hands. God, he said, was telling Christians to plunge a stake in the ground where they were and take each part for Christ.
"Many Muslim leaders have told me that if the Christians in this country stood up for their faith they would back off.
London, England, wake up! You choose which way this nation will go. Pray that this nation will wake up to its true calling and intercede until we see his glory."
In a video message broadcast to the GDOP London prayer meetings, London Mayor Boris Johnson paid tribute to the many Christian-run projects he said were helping to build community cohesion across the capital.
"We need your prayers at this time," he told them.
Christians spent the afternoon praying for God's Kingdom to come and his will to be done. Time was also given to prayer sof believers working within government, education, the NHS and the police, as well as church and ministry leaders.
Elsewhere in the UK, thousands of Christians joined in Global Day of Prayer meetings in Beverley, Chester, Norwich and York cathedrals, with more events held in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
For the first time,GDOP meetings were preceded by youth prayer meetings. News Source
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The BBC Trust has rejected complaints against a TV drama that showed a fanatical British Christian beheading a moderate Muslim.
The offending episode of “Bonekickers” was aired in July last year and sparked fresh claims of anti-Christian bias at the BBC.
The BBC Trust, a group of “independent trustees acting in the public interest”, rejected suggestions that the drama associated fanatical Christianity with evangelicalism and gave an offensive portrayal of evangelical Christians.
Daily Telegraph writer, Damian Thompson, said:
“We are deep into the realms of BBC bias and ignorance here.
“Only a BBC drama series would, to quote the complainant, ‘transfer the practice of terrorist beheadings from Islamist radicals to a fantasised group of fundamentalist Christians’.”
When the show was broadcast a TV reviewer for the Observer said: “it wasn’t the absurdity of the storyline that buried Bonekickers so much as the BBC’s paint-by-numbers version of political correctness.”
He added: “A Martian watching TV drama of late would probably conclude that the country is crawling with homicidal Islamophobes”.
The BBC Trust’s decision to support the drama comes in the same week as the BBC caved in to pressure and apologised to the Muslim Council of Britain over accusations that the group supports attacks on British troops.
The accusation came in an edition of the Beeb’s topical debate show, Question Time. A £30,000 payout and an apology have been offered by the BBC, despite the fact that the Government has expressed similar sentiments about the same group.
In October last year Director General of the BBC, Mark Thompson, said Islam should be treated more sensitively than Christianity because it is less integrated into our society.
In 2006 executives at the BBC admitted that they would consider broadcasting a scene where the Bible was thrown away but they would never do the same with the Koran.
In the same year the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, said that Christians took “more knocks” in BBC programmes than other faiths.
Dr Sentamu said: “They can do to us what they dare not do to the Muslims. We are fair game because they can get away with it.” News Source
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Jacqui Smith’s surprise resignation today is the culmination of a series of events which has led to a total meltdown in the Labour Party, compounded by observer reports from around the country at postal ballot reception centres of a dramatic surge in support for the British National Party, Nick Griffin has said.
Speaking exclusively to BNP News after Ms Smith’s resignation, Mr Griffin said that in many Euro regions, BNP observers had reported an initial groundswell of support for the BNP in postal ballots, particularly in Redditch and the West Midlands, where Ms Smith has her seat.
“Labour backbenchers have been openly plotting Mr Brown’s demise should the BNP achieve a breakthrough on Thursday.
It is my bet that Ms Smith has been informed of the postal ballot trends and has decided to jump ship rather than be pushed and publicly humiliated next week,” Mr Griffin said.
According to Mr Griffin, estimates of BNP support levels in the first wave of returned postal ballots have varied between 15 and 20 percent or more in certain regions. “This is remarkable when one considers that usually the BNP does poorly in postal votes when compared to actual polling day.
“The effect on the Labour Party of having one of their most senior people quit 24 hours before polling day is an indication of how severe the Labour meltdown is going to be. No party, under normal circumstances, would allow such a thing to happen just before a crucial election,” Mr Griffin said.
Referring to the fact that the BNP website has increased its lead in the popularity stakes to a seven day average of 21,454 in the world, and 1,204 in Britain, Mr Griffin said Labour and its supporters also know that the party has been able to sidestep the lying media.
“Through the power of the Internet we have been able to deliver the truth about Labour and Britain’s state of degradation direct to the voters,” he said.
“If I was in the leadership of a party which had been so thoroughly disgraced and out manoeuvred at every turn by the BNP, I would also probably consider resigning, rather than be blamed after the collapse.”
* Jacqui Smith’s resignation comes in the wake of the expenses scandal which has immersed all the Westminster parties and the fake UKIP front party in Brussels. Ms Smith was one of the first to be publicly ridiculed when it emerged that amongst her expenses claims were pornographic films and an obviously bogus ’second house’ claim which was in fact her sister’s house.
This scam allowed her to claim around £116,000 for the upkeep of the family home in her constituency. Her husband, Mr Richard Timney, was the one who allegedly watched the films called Who’s Nailin’ Palin and Belladonna’s Girl Train and submitted the £67 Virgin Media bill, although his wife would have had to sign for it. Mr Timney, who lives in Redditch with their two sons, aged 15 and 10, is employed at public expense as a parliamentary assistant to his wife. The bill also included two viewings of the film Ocean’s 13, at £3.75 each, and £3.50 to watch the children’s film Surf’s Up.
Ms Smith bought her husband a £240 Apple iPhone on her office expenses, as well as billing taxpayers for her accountancy costs and £1,600 for three digital cameras and a camcorder over three years.
When that scandal broke, Gordon Brown said Ms Smith was “doing a great job” and that the best thing “is that Jacqui Smith gets on with her work, which is what she wants to do.” News Source
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Detectives investigating the suspected sabotage of IV drips used on children's wards have arrested a woman hospital worker.
Twenty-one punctured intravenous drips were found in a secure store room at Basildon University Hospital in Essex last month.
A batch of more than 30 IV drip bags, which contain saline and sugar solutions, were also seized after fears they had been tampered with.
Forensic tests are still being carried out to establish whether any toxic substances had been added to the bags.
The 21-year-old employee was arrested today on suspicion of criminal damage and contamination of goods. She was later freed on police bail.
The equipment was found the day after a three-year-old girl died at the hospital.
Police initially refused to rule out a link between the tampering and her death but a post mortem found she died of natural causes. She had been seriously ill on arrival at hospital.
Officers have been trawling through CCTV footage to establish who had access to the store room. Insiders said 'lots of people' had the code to open it.
Security at the 60-bed children's unit has since been tightened.
A batch of more than 30 intravenous drip bags, which contain saline and sugar solutions, were seized by police after a member of staff discovered they were wet on April 19.
It is standard hospital procedure to pass IV bags from hand to hand before giving them to patients to check they are not leaking. News Source
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Using Your Money against You
Fears that Gordon Brown is secretly plotting to scrap the pound for the Euro were fuelled yesterday after the scale of the Government’s stealth plans were revealed.
Whitehall departments are spending time and taxpayers’ money updating their plans for the switch and each one has a named minister in charge of the process, it emerged.
Detailed talks have taken place in departments about what they would have to do if Britain joined.
They include explaining to the public how the move would affect their council tax and business-rate bills and how the BBC would pay for the £10 million cost of changing the TV licence fee to Euros.
The disclosures come just months after European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso claimed Britain was “closer than ever” to joining the Euro.
Pro-Europe Business Secretary Lord Mandelson also said in December that “our aim, our goal, should be to enter the single currency” and the Government was “right to maintain a long-term policy objective of taking Britain into the Euro”.
Details of how the Government is paving the way for change were extracted from ministers in answers to Parliamentary questions.
Shadow Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude said: “The public will be alarmed that Government departments are spending time and money on preparing to scrap the pound.
“It now appears that Gordon Brown and Lord Mandelson have a secret Whitehall agenda to exploit their appalling mismanagement of the public finances and use it as an excuse to join the Euro.
“Time and resources better spent on improving local public services are now being spent on preparing to issue council tax bills and TV licences in the new currency.
Details of the Government’s preparations for joining the Euro, which Labour has said will happen only if the British people vote Yes in a referendum, came ahead of Thursday’s elections to the European Parliament.
Lorraine Mullally, director of the Eurosceptic think tank Open Europe, said: “There is virtually no appetite in Britain for the Euro, especially at the moment as many Eurozone countries come under severe pressure in the recession.
"So it’s extraordinary that the Government has been busy working behind the scenes to secretly prepare Britain’s entry.
“When President Barroso said ‘the people who matter in Britain are currently thinking about’ joining the Euro, he certainly wasn’t talking about the British people. He was talking about Gordon Brown and his team of ‘Euro ministers’.”
Today, a ComRes survey for the TaxPayers’ Alliance reveals that just 28 per cent of the public think Britain should join the Euro, with 68 per cent opposing the move.
The Communities and Local Government Department’s plan spells out the need to prepare for council tax and business rate bills to be issued in the new currency.
But a Treasury spokesman insisted last night: “Nothing has changed in our policy. There are no active plans to join the Euro.” News Source
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The problem is that these Labour minions will be replaced by more of the same!
- Jacqui Smith to quit as Home Secretary
- Two government ministers also say they're going
- Two more Labour MPs are to step down
- Private prosecution threat for Chaytor and three others
- Cameron: Election essential to 'cleanse' Parliament
Gordon Brown was plunged into an even deeper crisis today after it was revealed that Jacqui Smith is resigning as Home Secretary.
The Prime Minister's plans for a dramatic Cabinet reshuffle fell into disarray as Labour saw not one but five resignations in one day.
Children's Minister Beverley Hughes and Cabinet Office minister Tom Watson revealed they were also standing down from their posts.
Meanwhile, shamed Labour backbencher David Chaytor resigned over his expense claims and former health secretary Patricia Hewitt said they were also quitting Parliament.
The series of resignations started to leak out as the Prime Minister was rallying his Cabinet in Downing Street, ahead of crunch elections this Thursday.
The disclosures were seen as yet more evidence of his collapsing authority and signalled a dramatic escalation of the MPs' expenses crisis.
The axe is also still hanging over Chancellor Alistair Darling, but Mr Brown has been warned putting Ed Balls in the Treasury could unleash an all-out war with Blairites.
Miss Smith, who had also been embroiled in controversy over her expenses claims, will leave the Cabinet as part of the widely-expected reshuffle.
Home Office sources pre-empted the Prime Minister's hiring and firings by confirming her plans.
They said she had been 'hurt' by allegations she was milking the second homes allowance.
She told Mr Brown two months ago of her plans to stand down but it only emerged today.
Tory MP Ben Wallace said: 'Some people are jumping ship without even informing the Prime Minister, it seems. It is just falling apart. Is the Prime Minister in control or not, people are going to be asking.'
Foreign Secretary David Miliband and Northern Ireland Secretary Shaun Woodward are tipped to be in line to move across to the Home Office.
Although widely anticipated, Miss Smith's decision to go increases the importance of the Cabinet overhaul, expected after local and European elections this Thursday.
With Alistair Darling facing the sack as Chancellor and pressure on Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon, the reshuffle could be far wider than first thought.
Children's minister Miss Hughes cited 'personal reasons' as she declared she was resigning from the Government and as an MP.
She and Mrs Hewitt insisted their resignations had nothing to do with the expenses scandal, with the latter saying she wanted to spend more time with her family.
Mr Watson, a close ally, will reportedly continue to advise the Prime Minister and help organise campaigns despite leaving the Government.
Mr Chaytor, who is under fire for claiming almost £13,000 in public money for a non-existent mortgage, will also stand down at the next election.
He was among four MPs threatened with private prosecutions today by businessman Sir Paul Judge if the police do not bring charges by June 19.
The resignations take the total number of MPs to fall since the expenses row began last month to 16, with seven of those from the Labour party.
Yet more MPs resigning but not going until the next election - the last possible date for which is June 2010 - leaves Parliament in an even deeper state of drift.
It fuelled calls for an immediate general election, with Tory leader David Cameron insisting again today that this is the only way to properly 'cleanse' Parliament.
However, deputy Labour leader Harriet Harman denied it was an indication of Gordon Brown losing his grip.
'It is not the wheels falling of the Government,' she insisted.
Smith's future at the Home Office had been hanging by a thread ever since it came to light that she tried to claim her husband's pornography on expenses.
She submitted a bill for blue movies watched by husband Richard Timney, who also acts as her £40,000-a-year assistant.
She signed off the amount last year as part of a £67 television package claimed under MPs' second home allowance and it was passed by the Commons authorities.
The minister was already embroiled in a sleaze inquiry after clawing in £116,000 of expenses by claiming a bedroom at her sister's London address was her main home.
In total Ms Smith claimed £22,948 in 2007/08 in taxpayer-funded allowances for her ‘second home’.
But as the Daily Mail revealed last month, for the purpose of council tax, her constituency property is treated as a primary residence. Continued - Please Read News in Full
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Gordon Brown was hit by a fierce backlash today over the prospect of promoting Ed Balls to be the new Chancellor.
Senior Blairites warned that it would be “divisive” and make the Cabinet “unbalanced”. Their response threatened to derail the sweeping reshuffle to be held after this week's local and European elections.
With Alistair Darling looking doomed from the expenses scandal, MPs are convinced that the Prime Minister intends to replace him with the Children's Secretary.
Mr Brown has for several weeks been rumored to want his protégé to take over the Treasury, seeing him as a more strategic and combative Chancellor.
One possibility is that it would be combined with promotion for Lord Mandelson to the Foreign Office, to be presented as a balanced set of promotions.
But both ministers and backbenchers warned him against giving the Treasury to one of his closest and most controversial allies, saying it would be a retreat from his original promise to have a big tent government.
One former minister said: “Gordon obviously rates Ed Balls highly but he must be careful that he does not leave the Cabinet unbalanced. That could be the effect if Ed ran the Treasury in the same way that he behaved when he was there as Gordon's special adviser.”
Another MP said: “He would be a very unpopular choice. It would look like the Brown camp getting narrower and more powerful at the same time.” Mr Brown is known to be planning a bold reshuffle that will see a string of figures caught up in the sleaze scandals leave their posts.
The Children's Secretary is his closest ally but is regarded with horror by Blairites who accuse him of briefing against them during the long battle for power between Mr Brown and Tony Blair.
Mr Balls one derided Mr Blair as “chairman” to Mr Brown's chief executive role. He was also close to disgraced No 10 aide Damian McBride and has been accused of amassing huge influence at Downing Street behind the scenes.
“If Gordon appoints Ed Balls as Chancellor then that's an absolutely terminal act,” one ex-minister told the Times. “All hell will break loose.”
A senior former minster told the Standard that Mr Balls would represent a Brownite “tribalism”, adding: “It would indicate a preference from the Prime Minister for a tribalism and his style of doing things rather than listening to the views of the wider party.
“He is part of a group around Brown who have been intolerant of others, who have only been too ready to take divisive action to pursue their objectives. I personally don't see him as a successful Chancellor who would bring people together.”
The Prime Minister is hoping to mirror the success of his first reshuffle, last October, when his decision to bring back former enemy Lord Mandelson snuffed out a Blairite rebellion and strengthened his position.
Among the expected demotions are expected to be Mr Darling and Communities Secretary Hazel Blears. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has already told Mr Brown privately that she will stand down. Former transport minister Stephen Ladyman said “I would personally prefer to stick with Alistair. It would be better for the country to leave him where he is. He is a steady pair of hands.”
With disastrous defeats looming in the elections, backbenchers are talking about putting up a stalking horse challenger for the leadership.
The expenses scandal continued to damage the Government and opposition parties today. Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon was the latest to admit he admitted he “accidentally” overclaimed and said he would pay back £384. Deputy Labour leader Harriet Harman admitted at a meeting of the parliamentary party last night that Labour's position was now “even more difficult” than ever before.
No 10 and Treasury sources denied that Mr Brown had already decided to move Mr Darling out of the Treasury. But the Prime Minister was said to have told a friend he feared the Chancellor was facing death “by a thousand cuts” because of the expenses scrutiny.
Last night Mr Darling gave the impression he was braced for a departure when he “unreservedly apologised” for unwittingly overclaiming money. News Source
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Today Ms Pascoe's office was forced to apologise over the offensive material as the pair battle to win the seat of Camborne South on Cornwall Council.
The leaflet read: '[Anna] has always campaigned on behalf of the people she represents - rather than using her position as a personal platform (like greasy-haired t*** Stuart Cullimore)'.
Around 40 of the promotional flyers were printed and distributed to homes around Camborne, shocking local residents.
Joe Taylor, LibDem spokesman for the area, apologised and said it was not an authorised leaflet but 'some kind of prank that's back-fired'.
He claims the blunder may have even been the result political sabotage - with a rival gaining access to a Lib-Dem computer.
Party leader Dick Cole said: 'We are pretty angry and concerned how this kind of thing can come out of an official Lib Dem office and be distributed during an election period.'
It is unknown if Ms Pascoe had seen or had any knowledge of the leaflet before it was distributed. Continued
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Three-quarters of people believe their MPs are liars in the wake of the expenses scandal, with almost half also considered corrupt, a devastating new poll reveals.
The scale of public disillusionment with Parliament is laid bare by the Ipsos Mori survey for the BBC.
Only 20 per cent declared they could trust their MP with some 76 per cent believing they do not tell the truth.
A huge majority, 85 per cent, of the 1,000 people polled backed the idea of an independent judicial body to make sure MPs are kept in line.
It came as a disastrous poll put Labour's support at its lowest ever, with a warning Gordon Brown faces a defeat from which the party might never recover.
Labour peer Lord Desai said the party ran a serious risk of being beaten not only by the Conservatives but also by the Liberal Democrats at the next General Election.
The survey, also by Ipsos Mori, showed backing for Labour has crashed by ten points in the last month.
It is now running neck and neck with the LibDems on just 18 per cent - the worst figure for any governing party.
The poll suggested the Tories are largely undented by the scandal over MPs' expenses, down only one point on a month ago at 40 per cent.
However, in a sign of wild fluctuations in voting intentions, a separate survey by ComRes for the Independent put the Conservatives on just 30 per cent, Labour on 22 per cent and the Lib Dems on 18 per cent if an election were held now.
Labour's desperate standing forms the worst possible backdrop for Mr Brown to Thursday's crucial local and European elections.
The Prime Minister again insisted yesterday he would defy any attempt to drive him from Downing Street, no matter how bad the results.
But Lord Desai warned his party is heading for defeat on the scale of the Liberals in 1922, after which they never returned to power.
'It is seriously possible that we will come below the LibDems at the general election,' he said.
The BBC's research showed 7 per cent believe all MPs to be corrupt, 17 per cent that most were and 24 per cent for 'about half' - totalling 48 per cent.
Some 62 per cent agreed MPs were pursuing their own interests rather than those of the country and their constituents.
A a large majority, 80 per cent, said that the parliamentary system was also to blame and needed reform.
Yet another poll indicated almost one third of voters are not planning to back any of the three main parties in Thursday's elections.
The ComRes poll for the Indepent put support for 'others' at 30 per cent, up 18 per cent since before the expenses row.
The rating is neck and neck with the Tories - who have plummeted 15 per cent from the equivalent poll last month.
Labour has dropped four points to 22 per cent, while the Liberal Democrats were up one on 18 per cent.
The Greens were on 8 per cent, Ukip on 7 per cent, the BNP 3 per cent, the Scottish National Party 2 per cent, Plaid Cymru 1 per cent and other smaller parties or independents 9 per cent.
David Cameron said the polls showed anger over the expenses scandal had not subsided and had, if anything, 'got worse'.
Trust had to be rebuilt 'brick by brick' with an early General Election, he repeated.
'What I have tried to do with my party is atone for the mistakes of the past by getting people to pay back money, by forcing some to retire, by threatening to withdraw the whip if they don't retire, but I recognise that is not enough,' he said.
'In the end what the British public want is all of that, plus a General Election - they want to be able to pass judgment on all their Members of Parliament.' News Source
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The shadow deputy leader of the House of Commons attempted to claim back expenses from costs he had incurred before he was even elected an MP.
Shailesh Vara claimed more than £1,500 in mortgage interest repayments and cleaning bills on his second home in 2005.
He submitted an 18 page expenses claim for £22,600.51 after nominating a house in Lewisham, south east London as his second home.
However, the claims office spotted that some bills covered the first few months of 2005, before he was elected as MP for North West Cambridgeshire in May of that year.
The bill was reduced by £1,531.98 in total - including £218 for cleaning and £139 for council tax - according to the Daily Telegraph.
A Commons official wrote to explain, saying: 'Claim reduced - claiming before being a member.'
They also noticed that his wife, Beverley Vara, was the only person named on the mortgage statements.
He wrote to the fees office saying it was due to a 'misunderstanding' by his solicitor who had drafted the documents only in her name.
He was permitted to keep claiming on the house because he told officials he was preparing to buy another property nearer Parliament.
They sold the home for a £150,000 profit in 2007 and bought a £1.2million house near Westminster.
Mr Vara said last night: 'It is not true that I attempted to claim for the wrong period. I put the correct dates on the claim form but did not pro-rata the bills and the fees office then correctly did the pro-rata exercise and the correct amount was paid to me.
'The house was our matrimonial home and the name on the deeds and bills does not alter the reality that the ownership, responsibility and payments were joint.
'Necessary repairs of £1,320 fourteen months before sale can hardly be said to generate a windfall in the sale price, whilst the purchase of the second property was certainly not dependent on any previous claims.' News Source
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Geoff Hoon, the Transport Secretary, is exposed as the second Cabinet minister to have claimed expenses for two different second homes at the same time.
Mr Hoon's constituency home was funded by the taxpayer while he was also claiming parliamentary allowances for a London town house, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.
During 2006, he claimed hundreds of pounds for the Derbyshire house after "flipping" his designated second home to the capital.
Last night, the Transport Secretary apologised "unreservedly" for what he described as an "inadvertent administrative error" and repaid £384 to the parliamentary authorities.
Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, also repaid more than £600 yesterday after it emerged that he had funded two different second homes at the same time from his expenses.
Gordon Brown was under increasing pressure to take action against Cabinet ministers who have made questionable expense claims. Several back-bench MPs have been suspended from the Labour Party but no senior figures have been disciplined. Continued
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Fresh questions were raised Monday night over Tony McNulty's Commons' expenses after it emerged that he had claimed more than £2,000-worth of accountancy bills from the taxpayer.
Documents also show that he ordered a list of postal voters in his Harrow constituency a year after the 2005 general election and then claimed the cost under his expenses . Last week, Mr McNulty repaid thousands of pounds he had "mistakenly" claimed on a house where his parents lived.
MPs are not allowed to offset the costs of hiring an accountant to help them fill in their annual tax return.
Under the Green Book rules, MPs are able to claim for "professional advice" from accountants, but it is not clear whether this should cover personal tax advice.
Documents seen by The Daily Telegraph show Mr McNulty submitted three bills totalling £2,009 from the accountancy firm HW Fisher for work "in preparation of your tax return". Continued
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Eddie McGrady, a Northern Ireland MP claimed more than £17,000 for top-of-the-range London hotels and tried to charge the taxpayer £2,570 for food, laundry and telephone bills over eight nights.
On one occasion, Eddie McGrady chose a five star boutique hotel which cost the public purse up to £315 a night. He also claimed thousands of pounds in "petty sundries" – most of which were refused. By contrast, some of his parliamentary colleagues found hotels in the capital for £100.
Mr McGrady, the Social Democrat and Labour Party MP for South Down, spent the majority of his nights in London at The Royal Horseguards hotel which overlooks the Thames and has recently been given a five-star rating. In 2007, rooms cost £250 a night.
The MP also stayed at The Rubens, which is within a few yards of Buckingham Palace and cost £265 a night in 2006.
One review said: "The Rubens prides itself on luxury. Sumptuously nestled close to St James's Park, the hotel offers all the peace you could wish for."
His most expensive claim was for the five-star boutique hotel 41 Buckingham Palace Road, where he was charged £315 on one night and £245 on another. Continued
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Charles Hendry, a shadow minister, claimed more than £7,300 in taxpayer-funded expenses to pay for domestic staff at his second home.
Charles Hendry, the shadow energy and climate change minister, used the money to pay for two servants at his £750,000 farm house in East Sussex over three years.
Mr Hendry, the MP for Wealdon, also owns a £2.56 million town house in Westminster.
Hendry is the second senior Conservative found to have claimed public money to pay for domestic staff. Sir John Butterfill, the MP for Bournemouth West, claimed £17,000 for servants' quarters at his second home.
A contract drawn up by Mr Hendry and submitted to the Commons fees office in September 2004 shows that the staff, a husband and wife, were paid to clean, iron clothes and provide "general support in the garden".
They were paid £737 a month for their work at the farm house, for which Mr Hendry has claimed almost £90,000 in second home expenses over the past four years.
His "main home" is a house in a street in Westminster, which the couple bought in 2002 for £2.56 million, without a mortgage. Continued
Tuesday 2nd June 2009
Labour's claim that letting in record numbers of migrants benefits Britain is demolished today by a report damning it as a “Government-sponsored myth”.
Ministers have insisted that the waves of newcomers, many from Eastern Europe and Africa, contribute £14billion-a-year to the country’s balance sheet.
But a Migrationwatch report today accuses ministers of misleading the public.
It points out that even its own official figures show that migrants add only 62p per head a week to the living standards of the nation – roughly the cost of a Mars bar.
It says Government figures also overlook the huge impact migration has had on schools and hospitals and the £4billion-plus being sent out of the country by immigrants to relatives overseas.
This is approximately the cost of the two new aircraft carriers planned for the Royal Navy.
It works out at £11million a day lost to the British economy, nearly two thirds of the £6.3billion we spent on overseas aid last year.
Even this sum is likely to be an underestimate, say experts, because it does not include money sent via unofficial banking channels or by friends and relatives.
“Claims of economic benefits of mass immigration are a government sponsored myth,” said Migrationwatch chairman Sir Andrew Green.
He added: “We are not suggesting that remittances should be stopped, they are an important source of revenue for many families across the world, but claims that there are only positive benefits from mass immigration are clearly untrue.”
The report joins a growing dossier of evidence to debunk claims that vast numbers of immigrants are a benefit to Britain.
A recent inquiry by the House of Lords select committee on economic affairs accused the Government of “wildly overstating” the benefits of immigration.
In fact, said the authors, who included former Chancellors Nigel Lawson and Norman Lamont, the poor and young people looking for work suffered because immigrants soaked up jobs and brought about lower wage levels.
Sir Andrew said: “For years we have been told it can only benefit us. But when the evidence is examined, that claim falls apart.”
Border and Immigration Minister Phil Woolas rejected the study, saying: “People from overseas poured a record £14.2billion into the UK economy in 2007. The Government has made it clear that migration only works if it benefits the British people.
“That’s why our tough new points system allows in only those workers we need – and no more.”
Immigration has quadrupled since 1997 to 237,000 a year – one nearly every two and a half minutes – says Migrationwatch. News Source
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The taxpayer is spending hundreds of thousands of pounds providing interpreters for immigrants to gain a British passport because they cannot speak English.
The growing translation bill makes a mockery of the Government's pledge that migrants wanting to settle in the UK must demonstrate a command of the language.
By the time newcomers are applying for a passport they will have already passed a citizenship test and are supposed to at least be able to answer basic questions.
But translators are still needed for some when they attend the new face-to-face interviews, designed to question applicants and cut down on identity fraud or bogus claims.
More than a quarter of a million pounds was spent on such services by the Identity and Passport Service (IPS) last year.
Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "It is absurd that interpreters are being provided for people who the rules say must be able to speak English to qualify for a passport.
"This suggests that the Government's pledge to make sure a passport was conditional on being able to speak the language and integrate is simply hot air – leaving taxpayers to pick up the bill.
"We must have proper control of migration and citizenship, but the authorities seem more interested in talking tough and then leaving taxpayers to pay the price."
The passport office spent a total of £260,000 of public funds on translation and interpretation services in 2007/08.
In response to a written parliamentary answer, Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, said the offer of such services was introduced when face-to-face interviews for adult passport applicants became compulsory in the same year.
"Interviews are tailored to the individual in order to securely establish identity and it is possible that some interviews could require the assistance of an interpreter to help IPS staff satisfy themselves that the person attending is the legitimate passport applicant."
In the interviews, applicants are questioned for 20 minutes on personal information such as bank accounts and past addresses.
Most applicants will have been in the country for at least five years and yet many still need interpreters.
By the point that they are applying for a passport, most will have had to have passed the Life in the UK "Britishness" test, either through a written test entirely in English or via a special language course which is supposed to leave them with a basic command of English.
A Home Office spokesman said: "To become a British citizen, and apply for a passport, people must speak English, work hard and play by the rules.
"Face to face interviews are designed to help tackle fraud, and ensure the British passport remains amongst the most secure in the world.
"It is crucial that these interviews securely establish identity - therefore on occasion an interpreter may be called to assist. This can help satisfy us that the person attending the interview is the legitimate passport applicant." News Source
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Gordon Brown's bid to hold off a general election by promising major constitutional reforms have been given short shrift by voters.
A YouGov poll for the Daily Telegraph showed most wanted an election by the autumn at the latest.
The poll also reinforced an earlier survey suggesting Labour could be beaten into fourth place by Ukip in Thursday's Euro election.
"What's the point in electing a new parliament if you haven't got plans to clean up the system?" Mr Brown asked as he dismissed David Cameron's calls for an immediate election.
But 42% of voters - two thirds of whom agreed there was "nothing fundamentally wrong with Britain's constitution providing that MPs are honest and competent" - said they wanted an election by the autumn.
Another 18% called for a snap election within weeks, with 32% happy to wait until next year.
Asked how they would vote on Thursday, Labour scored 17% - the slimmest of leads over Ukip (16%) and the Liberal Democrats 15%. The Tories were on 27%.
The poll showed that Westminster's two biggest parties had been hit hard by the expenses scandal, the Tories plunging by 16 points since last month to 29% while Labour dropped five to 22%.
With the Liberal Democrats static at 18%, the beneficiaries were minor parties who more than doubled their combined support from 10% to 21%. The figures were based on a sample of 5,016 voters across Britain interviewed online between May 27 and 29.
Earlier an ICM survey for the Sunday Telegraph put Mr Brown's party in third place for the first time since 1987 on just 22% - three points adrift of the Lib Dems and 18 behind David Cameron's Conservative Opposition. News Source
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Only Now they come to Realise the DANGER of the EU
Better late than never we suppose!
Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court has warned that the extraordinary powers contained in the European Union’s Lisbon Treaty overrides all national laws in Europe.
The German court will shortly call for an ‘emergency brake’ provision to be included into the German constitution to prevent an EU dictatorship.
The development is all the more shocking because till now, Germany has been one of the most fanatically pro-EU countries in Europe.
It also reveals precisely how far Gordon Brown and the Labour Party have dragged Britain into the EU mess without considering its implications and without granting the people of this country a referendum on the topic.
The Federal Constitutional Court, which is Germany’s highest court, is to question a European Court of Justice ruling that a new law on data storage does not need to be approved by all member states for it to come into effect. This ruling has important implications for all national European laws, the German court has now said.
According to an article in Der Speigel, the EU Court has demonstrated that “there are no limits to the Eurocrats’ claim to power.”
The EU data storage law made by the EU Court requires that telecommunications companies throughout Europe keep telephone and Internet usage data on file for six months to make it available for criminal prosecutions.
The EU court ruled that the issue of data storage is less pertinent to fighting terrorism than to the European single market. It therefore used a simple majority to make the ruling. Normally, a unanimous vote is required if the measure falls under the EU’s crime and judicial affairs pillar, but a ruling on the ’single market’ only requires a majority decision.
Using this simple ruse, the EU court has therefore sidestepped whatever restrictions it might have had. By classifying topics under different categories, it can simply enforce any law it wants — and the German Court has seen this trick for what it is.
Der Speigel says “judges at Germany’s highest court have learned just how difficult it is to have the last word in Europe. It’s a cunning line of argumentation which effectively allows the court to intervene in many different political spheres within member countries” and added that the German “judges were visibly indignant when discussing precautions designed to impose limits on such trickery in the future.”
As a result, the German court will call for significant changes to German parliamentary law to counteract the Lisbon Treaty’s “sweeping authority that would give Brussels new jurisdiction at the expense of national parliaments,” Der Speigel says.
“The power of disposal over primary law that the (Lisbon) treaty would grant the EU’s bodies could also be described as the EU’s ‘jurisdiction over jurisdictions,’” said German judge Udo Di Fabio, who has been charged with drawing up the ruling.
This would amount to a kind of “self-service” mechanism by which the EU could expand its own powers without recourse to new treaties and such a mechanism would be difficult to reconcile with the provisions of the German constitution, Judge Di Fabio has said.
According to Der Speigel, the Lisbon Treaty openly encroaches on national authority. It gives the following example:
“Under the Lisbon Treaty, the EU can define certain criminal cases, such as those involving terrorism, human trafficking or cyber crime, as ‘transnational.’ But, ‘depending on developments in criminality,’ the Council can expand the EU’s jurisdiction to any other aspects of criminal law as soon as there is a possibility that they will become transnational — in other words, virtually always.
“The potential conflicts are foreseeable. For instance, it would be difficult to persuade the Dutch that assisted suicide should be a crime. It would be just as hard to convince the Germans that hashish should be decriminalized. The judges on Germany’s Constitutional Court were troubled by such provisions,” wrote Der Speigel.
As a result, the German judges are focussing their efforts in order to “come to grips with the dangers of the Lisbon Treaty at the national level,” the magazine continued.
They could require the German parliament, the Bundestag, to incorporate a kind of ‘emergency brake’ into their constitution. This would require the consent of the Bundestag to be linked to the consent of the federal government, and grant the German parliament the right of veto of the government if it relinquished certain powers to the EU.
The German court has also expressed its concern about the unification of European resources which is part of the Lisbon Treaty. “What happens if, as the Lisbon Treaty provides, one high-handed member decides to speak for all 27 EU countries?” Der Speigel wrote. “Because ‘the music of globalization is playing’ at the World Trade Organisation, the judges argue, the issue of who has the say there cannot be irrelevant. They fear that even the German water supply could be sold off one day in what Di Fabio calls the WTO’s ‘bazaar atmosphere.’”
The issue goes beyond even that, the German court judge has said. “All areas of domestic and legal policy where competency is transferred to the European bodies under the Lisbon Treaty would be exempt from the unanimity requirement. Even worse, the European Council can also decide to apply the majority vote principle to decisions that would normally require a unanimous vote.
“If that happens, Germany could simply be overruled, such as on the question of joint military operations abroad. The only safeguard is that the decision on which mode of voting to apply — a majority or unanimous vote — must be unanimous.
“But, the judges asked astutely, does the confusing treaty also make it possible to simply do away with the unanimity requirement when it comes to expanding the EU’s competencies?” Der Speigel pointed out.
And this is the mess into which Tory, Labour and Liberal Democrats have dragged Britain? An EU super monster that has appropriated to itself the right to determine all national laws?
The British National Party is the only political party which has consistently opposed the EU super state right from the very beginning, unlike the fake “UKIP” party which has as its candidates at least three people who are on public record as having supported the EU and its infrastructure.
There is only one party which has an unblemished record on the EU: the BNP. Voters can use the coming election to express their opposition to the Lisbon Treaty by voting BNP. News Source
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A farmer who wrote to his council objecting to a proposed travellers’ site next to his house was accused of racism and threatened with police action.
Bryan Lee, 65, of Silverton, Devon,was shocked when officials sent a letter back warning he would be investigated if 'any more racist representations’ were sent.
In his letter, Mr Lee said that when he used to live near travellers he had experienced many problems, including fights, stolen property and out-of-control animals.
But Mid Devon District Council instantly dismissed his opposition to an application to turn a farmer’s field into a home for a family of gypsies and their horse-selling business.
The letter read: ‘It is the policy of the council, when making decisions on planning and building proposals and applications, to take no account of representations of a racist nature.
‘I have to tell you that if the council receives any more racist representations from you, this matter will be referred to the Commission for Racial Equality or the police for investigation.’
Mr Lee, who is now retired, condemned the situation as ‘political correctness gone too far’ and is seeking legal action claiming he was unfairly labelled a racist.
He said: ‘I think it is absolutely outrageous. I find it so offensive. I am so angry. I am not a racist.
‘I crafted that letter as carefully as I could. I deliberately avoided using the word “gipsy”. They have put their own interpretation on it.
‘It was a factual report of my own first-hand experience. If the council won’t even consider the sort of issues that I have raised, then they are stupid.’
The application had been put forward to change a farm field to a ‘pitch to accommodate a traveller family and one pitch for a mobile horticulture business’.
In his letter, Mr Lee wrote: ‘The number of families at any one time on the permanent site was an ongoing problem for the local authority as was the nature of business carried out on the site, including vehicle wrecking and various small-scale livestock ventures.
‘Horses were turned into my fields on a regular basis.
‘The police were regular visitors to the site, usually to trace stolen property but also to break up fights with other traveller families from other sites.’
But today Mid Devon District Council once again said they would not take into account comments ‘where they could be reasonably be considered to be racist’.
A spokesman said: ‘I appreciate that planning applications for gipsy and traveller sites can be quite sensitive.
‘But the council has a responsibility under the Race Relations Act 1976 to eliminate unlawful racial discrimination and to promote equality of opportunity and good relations between racial groups.
‘We have a very clear policy - based on national guidelines produced by the Royal Town Planning Institute - that we will not take into account comments made in relation to planning applications where they could reasonably be considered to be racist.’
A spokesman for the Equality and Human Rights Commission - formerly the Commission for Racial Equality - said it could not comment on whether travellers were a racial group.
The planning application was later withdrawn. News Source
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(By Tony Shell from the Green Arrow Blog)
It is very apparent that the political philosophy of far-left groups such as Searchlight is that anyone who opposes Marxist internationalism is a ‘fascist’.
It’s therefore not surprising to find that those that oppose Marxism are subject to the most vicious of smears – especially dead people who can’t respond to such attacks.
And, it would appear, especially British war heroes, who seem to especially enrage the sensibilities of the likes of Searchlight.
Clearly the Searchlight organisation feels safe in indulging in this particular tactic.
One such example is the attacks made against the good name and reputation of the late Airey Neave MP.
A brief biography of this courageous and patriotic Briton is (I feel) required.
On the 26th May 1940, during the fighting withdrawal of the BEF to Dunkirk, a badly wounded Lieutenant Airey Neave was taken prisoner by the Germans.
After nineteen grim months of imprisonment Lieutenant Neave became the first British POW to escape from the notorious Colditz Castle. On his eventual return to England Airey Neave made good use of his experiences and became involved with setting up escape lines within Europe for allied POWs.
He also saw active service during the liberation of France in the summer of 1944. In August 1945 Airey Neave (now with the rank of Major) was appointed to the British War Crimes Executive, and was to serve the indictments against the leading Nazi defendants at the Nuremberg War Crime Tribunal. He was subsequently appointed Chief Commissioner to the Tribunal. Following the war he became involved in politics and was elected Member of Parliament for Abingdon in 1953.
On the 30th March 1979 Airey Neave MP was assassinated by the Marxist republican group, the Irish National Liberation Army as he drove up the ramp from the House of Commons car park.
The Provisional I.R.A. initially claimed responsibility (yet another debunking of the honest Provo myth), but it soon emerged that the communist republican group, the Irish National Liberation Army, had the more plausible claim. Its “director of intelligence”, Ronnie Bunting, was credited with ordering the murder. He claimed to have had inside information from the House of Commons allowing the bombers to infiltrate the car park, but it is just as likely that the device was planted, with a time delay, outside Neave’s home, where security was slack.
In January 1991 the Searchlight organisation published an article entitled ‘Gladio’. This consisted essentially of eight pages of conspiracy-theory drivel – based predominantly on the unsubstantiated allegations from an unnamed ‘source’ – of a plot for a Europe-wide fascist coup. This bizarre rubbish managed to incorporate into its allegations the participation of the CIA, members of the Conservative party, members of the Italian Masonic Brotherhood, the British Secret Intelligence Service, NATO and the Special Air Services (SAS) Regiment of the British Army.
However the especially nauseous part of this contrived garbage were the attempts by Searchlight to link Airey Neave DSO, OBE, MC, as a “key player” in this supposed conspiracy to support and promote acts of terror and “violent neo-Nazis”.
It is in respect of the above that it is worth reflecting on the eagerness with which the UK mass media choose to use the Searchlight organisation as their source of ‘intelligence’. I feel this provides an especially interesting insight into the current state of reporting within the UK media industry. News Source
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Few days from now we shall have voted, or more likely according to the opinion polls not have voted, in the European elections and the ecclesiastical establishment is getting its gaiters in a twist over its fear that we shall do something stupid.
The well-intentioned although from time to time rather silly Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams has been joined by the usually sensible Archbishop of York Dr John Sentamu in issuing a rare joint statement.
Recognising the anger that exposure of the House of Commons expenses scandal has caused they urge that at a time of turbulence and disgust with the main political parties voters must avoid voting for the British National Party. Their unprecedented intervention may have been prompted by an opinion poll that found that more than 25 per cent of the electorate is planning to reject the Westminster Establishment in the June 4 elections.
Yet the Church may have already undermined its authority to lecture the country about its behaviour.
For one thing it supports multiculturalism and open-door immigration, outraging the vast majority of the population who were never asked if that was what they wanted.
And the Archbishops have given the oxygen of publicity to a political party which is only a marginal force.
They may also have compounded their mistakes by assuming that we will put up with being told how we must, or must not, vote. The Archbishops’ intervention has been arrogant, patronising and unnecessary.
About 300 years ago the English mathematician and physicist Sir Isaac Newton declared: “To every action there is always opposed an equal reaction.”
Following the scandal concerning the exaggerated expenses claims by some MPs, political leaders rushed to announce their intention to clean up Parliament.
David Cameron was first out of the blocks. Comparing the thrust for reform to a 1,500m race, Cameron reached the 400m mark while Gordon Brown was still putting on his running shoes.
All three major parties make similar promises. They claim they will overhaul the political system, redistribute power and make the political elite more accountable to citizens.
After so many broken promises, however, convincing voters that they should trust politicians will not be easy.
If elected, David Cameron also promises to introduce a Bill of Rights, give us a referendum on the Lisbon treaty and move power back from the EU to Britain, three promises that will be hugely popular. The last two guarantee some lively encounters between Prime Minister Cameron and the unelected Brussels bureaucrats. News Source
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The MPs who have been shamed into quitting parliament over the expenses scandal will walk away with pensions totalling over £13million, it emerged last night.
Fourteen members who have so far said they will step down in the wake of the crisis have built up the huge retirement pots.
All but one – Speaker Michael Martin – have said they plan to cling on until the next election.
And some will even be able to start claiming their index-linked deals before the official retirement age of 65 without losing a penny, unlike the private sector.
That means they will continue to collect salaries, pension contributions and expenses for up to another year.
They will then collect golden goodbyes of as much as £105,000 each – creating a total bill of up £18million for taxpayers.
Tom McPhail, head of pension research at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “The MPs’ pension scheme is overdue for fundamental reform.
"It allows an MP to retire on the equivalent of the national average wage after only around 17 years’ work. How can this be justified?”
Dozens more MPs could yet be forced to step down in the wake of the scandal, costing taxpayers an average of £1million each.
Some estimates have put the total – including members being kicked out by voters at the next election due to general disgust with sitting MPs – at as high as 200.
Prime candidates to join the list of shame last night were Labour’s Frank Cook and Tory justice spokesman Eleanor Laing.
Mr Cook was revealed to have claimed £5 – his collection offering at a church service to commemorate the Battle of Britain.
And Ms Laing was said to have avoided paying an £180,000 capital gains tax bill by listing a property as her secondary residence for expenses purposes but telling the taxman it was her main home.
Among those already certain to collect huge pensions payouts are Andrew MacKay, who stepped down alongside his wife, fellow disgraced MP Julie Kirkbride, after it emerged the pair had managed to get taxpayers to pay for both their homes.
He will benefit from a special deal for retiring MPs that allows any MP aged between 60 and 65 to take their pension early with no financial penalty if they stand down at the next election.
That will mean Mr MacKay, a former parliamentary aide to David Cameron, will be able to draw his index-linked £40,000-a-year pension five years before his 65th birthday without losing a penny.
He also has the option of taking a chunk of his pension as a tax-free lump sum of more than £200,000.
Others due big pay-outs include Douglas Hogg, who claimed taxpayers’ money to dredge his moat.
He is sitting on the equivalent of a £1.25million pension pot which will provide an inflation-proof £43,000 a year – almost nine times the basic state pension.
Anthony Steen, who claimed the row over expenses was jealousy over his large house has the equivalent of a £1.2million pension pot worth £49,000 a year.
Sir Peter Viggers, who sparked anger for claiming £1,645 for a floating duck island in his pond, has the equivalent of a £1.1million pot and will get £49,000.
MPs have one of the best pension schemes in the world. While even people lucky enough to still be on final salary pensions rarely get over 10 per cent of earnings as a contribution from their employers, MPs get over 30 per cent.
A source said yesterday that Gordon Brown wants parliamentary standards watchdog Sir Christopher Kelly to look at ways of blocking payments to anyone guilty of a “major breach” of the rules.
The list of shamed MPs who are stepping down also includes Tory Nicholas Winterton, 71, who will pocket an annual pension of £52,140, and his wife Ann, 68, who will have a pension of £37,890.
The pair announced they were stepping down after it was disclosed they had claimed more than £80,000 in second home allowances on a London flat owned by a trust controlled by their children.
Christopher Fraser –- who said he was standing down as the Tory MP for South West Norfolk because of his wife’s poor health after it emerged he had spent £1,800 on trees –- will still get £15,000 when he turns 65, despite serving just eight years in the Commons.
Several Labour MPs will do well. Ian McCartney, will get £32,710, Elliot Morley, who said he mistakenly claimed for a non-exsistent mortgage, will get about £33,000, Ben Chapman, who overclaimed £15,000 in mortgage interest, will get about £20,000, and Margaret Moran, who claimed £22,500 to treat dry rot, will get about £19,500.
Derek Conway – already disgraced and thrown out of the Tory party for misusing his staffing budget to pay his sons more than £85,000 as researchers – will pocket £32,710 a year. News Source
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Immigration: What Britain has become in just over a decade!
Some of the world's most dangerous fugitives wanted for a string of offences ranging from rape to murder are on the run in Britain, it has emerged.
A manhunt was launched today for 16 of Europe's most wanted criminals who are all of Eastern European descent.
At least four of these are believed to be hiding in London.
The shocking list will increase pressure on Home Secretary Jacqui Smith as critics will ask how such dangerous criminals are able to slip into Britain.
The international fugitives formed part of a list of 100 men named as part of a global appeal co-ordinated by Crimestoppers and the Serious and Organised Crime Agency (Soca).
The first international appeal achieved success within hours when a 17th man Hungarian Balaz Asztalos, 25, wanted for an alleged sex attack on a girl, was arrested at a fairground in Milton Keynes yesterday.
His details were first published yesterday and Thames Valley police arrested him after information received from a member of the public.
The initiative, called International Fugitive Round Up and Arrest (Infra), is targeting the men wanted for a range of crimes.
All of those wanted in the UK come from Eastern European countries including Poland, Georgia, Albania and Hungary.
The majority of the fugitives - eight in total - are Albanian.
Lord Ashcroft, who founded Crimestoppers, said Operation Infra is a 'credible and effective' way of catching villains.
He said: 'Fugitives hide across the globe in all communities, large and small.
'When you look at the criminals that are on the most wanted list, they are truly horrible people and need to be caught.'
Dave Cording, of Crimestoppers, said it is impossible to say how many suspected criminals are hiding in Britain or whether they are responsible for further crimes.
He said some of those on the wanted list may have entered the country illegally and are now living under false identities.
The Most Wanted list was compiled by intelligence analysts from Soca.
Police warned that the men are considered highly dangerous and fear some may even have access to arms.
They say that members of the public should not attempt to apprehend any of the men but should pass on information to 0800 555 111 or via the Crimestoppers website www.crimestoppers-uk.org.
Callers using either route can remain anonymous.
The wanted named in the UK appeal are:
- Balaz Asztalos, 25, Hungarian, wanted for rape (arrested yesterday).
- Piotr Bielecki, 37, Polish, wanted for a sex assault. Arrested in London last year but absconded after getting bail. Thought to be in London.
- Tomasz Galas, 27, Polish, wanted for drug trafficking, human trafficking, fraud and sexual assault. Believed to be in south London.
- Giedrus Jankauskas, 29, Lithuanian, wanted for robbery. Suspected to be living in London.
- Bogumil Kaczmarkczyk, 29, Polish, sought for rape and murder. Thought to be hiding in Sussex.
- Radoslaw Kawa, 28, Polish, wanted for an alleged violent sex assault. Associated with the London, Nottinghamshire and Cheshire areas. Believed to work in the building trade.
- Norman Misarko, 32, Polish, wanted for assaults. Location unknown.
- Andras Mozes, 22, Hungarian, wanted for growing cannabis. Thought to be in Nottingham.
- Gentian Doda, 30, Albanian, wanted for two revenge murders.
- Durim Gremaj, 35, Albanian, wanted for sex offences.
- Agim Kabashi, 39, Albanian, wanted for child sex crimes and organising prostitution.
- Xhevat Kaca, 33, Albanian, wanted for sex crimes.
- Sherif Murati, 41, Albanian, wanted for murder.
- Nikolla Naci, 44, Albanian, wanted for use of weapons and explosives and drug trafficking.
- Ivane Sepashvili, 26, Georgian, wanted for murder.
- Dritan Shkurti, 33, Albanian, wanted for murder.
- Shaqir Ziko, Albanian, 27, wanted for armed robbery.
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More than a third of stressed-out British workers are reluctant to take their holidays because they fear they could lose their job, figures reveal today.
A poll of 3,000 workers has found another 28 per cent of people are worried that taking time off will make them a target for redundancy in the recession.
The Teletext Holidays poll also revealed that although the average worker gets 20 days of holiday a year, many rarely use them all up.
A staggering 16 per cent don't think they will take all of the days off they are entitled to and instead usually finish the year with three days outstanding.
Victoria Sanders, managing director of Teletext Holidays, said workers were experiencing high levels of stress, but were too concerned over job security to take leave.
'Concern about job security means people are leaving it later than ever before to book their holiday,' she said.
'Most employers won't exchange unused holiday for cash, so based on an average UK salary of £24,000, not taking three days of leave is equivalent of giving up your time to the value of £300 to your employer for free.'
Researchers found 75 per cent think their life is much more stressful than it used to be, with more than two-thirds blaming the increase on the credit crunch.
Almost three-quarters also reckon they are spending less time than ever relaxing.
On top of that, the average worker does three hours and 15 minutes of unpaid overtime each week - a total of more than one month's work for free over a year.
But a staggering 96 per cent of British workers think getting away from it all is important for their health and well-being.
More than three-quarters of people questioned admitted they are in need of a break at the moment.
Almost 90 per cent think going on holiday is the perfect way of reducing work-related stress, while 81 per cent even think they are more productive once they have had some time off.
Just over three-quarters (78 per cent) of workers also admitted they like to have a trip booked so they have something to aim for in the coming months.
But even when they do go away, many don't fully unwind as 43 per cent admit to thinking about work and 12 per cent taking work-related phone calls.
Seven per cent even take their laptop with them so they are able to do some work while on holiday.
Ms Sanders added: 'It's important to properly unwind on holiday - switch off phones and laptops and forget about work and you'll certainly notice the benefits when you return to your desk.
'Not only will you feel re-energized, output will increase too.' News Source
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MPs' expenses:
A Conservative front bench MP has been told by David Cameron she must pay up to £180,000 tax on the profit from the sale of her second home after her expense claims were disclosed by The Telegraph.
Eleanor Laing, a shadow junior justice minister, paid no capital gains tax on the £1 million profit she made last year when she sold a flat in London which she had bought with the help of £87,000 in taxpayer-funded allowances.
Mr Cameron said Mrs Laing would have to appear before the Tories' scrutiny panel which would decide how much money she must repay, but if she was ordered to pay the full £180,000 to HM Revenue & Customs it would be the biggest payback from any MP caught in the expenses scandal.
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Jacqui Lait, a former front bench Conservative MP, over-claimed on her second home mortgage for three years and had to pay back more than £7,000 after it was spotted by the fees office.
Between October 2003 and December 2006, Jacqui Lait consistently claimed more MPs' expenses than she should have done on the monthly mortgage interest on her flat in her constituency of Beckenham, Kent. In 2007 she was asked to produce her mortgage statements for the previous three years and they showed that she had regularly claimed around an extra £200 a month.
Officials calculated that she should have been paid £9,868 for mortgage interest but actually claimed £16,975 and subsequently owed the fees office £7,106.
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Gwyn Prosser, the Labour MP, paid his brother from his taxpayer-funded expenses to carry out work on his London flat - despite the fact that he lived almost 200 miles away.
Huw Prosser, who lived near Swansea, was paid £650 of public money to lay flooring at the flat in 2006.
The same year, Gwyn Prosser, the MP for Dover and Deal, also made claims totalling £2,782 for work at another flat he owned in London, even though it had not been his designated second home for three years and he was renting it out. The claims will raise concerns over the way in which some MPs used second home allowances to build up property portfolios.
The MP bought his first London flat in Elephant and Castle upon his election in 1997 for £54,000. It is now believed to be worth at least £130,000. It was his designated second home until 2003, when he bought a second flat a 10-minute walk away and rented out the first property.
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Bob Walter, a Conservative MP, attempted to claim £1,008 for handmade carpets he bought while on a trip to India.
Mr Walter bought the carpets to furnish his constituency home while on a visit with fellow Tories, paid for by the Indian government and the Confederation of Indian Industry. Although the fees office knocked him back for the full amount, it agreed to pay him £600. The MP claimed £85,000 in four years for his home in Dorset after switching his second home designation from a property in London.
The total claimed on his additional costs allowance (ACA) includes £16,790 in removal bills, solicitors’ fees, stamp duty and estate agency commission when he moved five miles from his home in Gillingham to his new £395,000 home in Shaftesbury in 2004.
In addition to a £1,200 monthly mortgage interest bill for his Shaftesbury home, he also claimed for gardening, pot plants, cleaning, gas and electricity.
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A man has died after being repeatedly kicked in the head during an attack in a city park.
The 37-year-old, who has not yet been named, died from severe head injuries after he was brutally attacked in Queen's Park, Blackburn on Saturday night.
Police launched a murder investigation after the victim, from the Shadsworth area, was pronounced dead at 8.30pm last night at Royal Blackburn Hospital.
Three men, aged 16, 20 and 22, have been arrested in connection with the incident.
Witnesses have told police that they saw the victim being kicked repeatedly about the head while lying motionless on the ground.
The attackers were described as Asian and the victim is white. Police are not treating it as a racist attack.
A group of up to 10 Asian and white young men were seen drinking near a football field in the park just before the violent assault.
It is believed that at least one of the attackers came from this group.
The victim was found by a jogger who called police.
Detective Superintendent Graham Coulston-Herrmann said: 'This was a violent attack with no clear motive at this stage so I would appeal to anyone that was in the park at the time, or who believes they witnessed the attack to come forward.
'It is likely that the group of males in the park drink there on a regular basis so I would urge anyone with any information about who these men could be to come forward and call police.'
Councillor Salim Mulla said he was appalled at the nature of the 'evil' attack.
He said: 'It is shocking that such a violent incident could take place in Queen's Park.' News Source
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Carers left an elderly man with dementia alone for five days without food or drinks before he was found collapsed on the floor of his bungalow, an inquest heard.
Harry Denton, 81, a former chief clerk to the Army's Scottish paymaster, should have been visited three times a day and had his meals and drinks prepared by staff from privately-run AJB Care.
After carers failed to gain entry when Mr Denton did not answer their knocks at the door, nobody from the company bothered to contact his family.
The widower, who lived alone and unlocked his door to let the carers in, died a day later in hospital from pneumonia.
AJB care manager Jane Hollingworth, who was informed of the failed visits, told the hearing they should have been treated as an emergency.
When asked by Sheffield coroner Chris Dorries about her lack of concern she admitted it was a 'serious and significant failure.'
Mr Denton was found collapsed at his home in Hoyland, South Yorkshire by his nephew on January 4 this year. He had red marks on his back consistent with radiator burns and had soiled the living room carpet.
Two coffee mugs were found in the kitchen sink which are believed to have been there since the last proper visit by carers on New Year's Eve.
Mr Denton's daughter Pauline Anderson told the hearing: 'There was no evidence he had anything to eat or drink since New Year's Eve.
'He wasn't able to look after himself.'
Ms Anderson, 55, an Open University associate lecturer in health and social care, was critical of her father's care towards the end of his life.
During December alone, AJB staff failed to get into her father's home on 15 occasions, mostly in the morning.
The Barnsley-based company claims Mr Denton would often refuse to allow carers into his home and care was never discontinued.
But Ms Anderson says her father did not refuse them entry. He would sit up late watching television and was merely sleeping in when they knocked in the mornings.
Mr Denton's weekly programme of 21-and-a-half hours care from last September was partly-funded by Barnsley Council's social services department who recommended AJB to the family.
The pensioner had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease and had poor mobility resulting from an unsuccessful knee replacement operation but was intelligent and interested in life.
He was proud and independent and adamant he wanted to live in his bungalow but occasionally clashed with some of his carers who regarded him as aggressive.
One carer alleged Mr Denton threatened him on separate occasions with a knife and a gun. The police were called but both allegations were later discredited.
It emerged at the inquest that Mr Denton, who spent 27 years in the Royal Army Pay Corps before he retired in 1972, did not have any guns and did not even hold a licence.
There was an incident on New Year's Eve when two carers were trying to throw away out-of-date food from his cupboards and they claimed he became angry, shoving them towards the door.
But Mrs Hollingworth said after investigating the claims she found it 'hard to believe' that the 81-year-old could push around two carers, one of whom was 6ft 2ins tall and the other 'not exactly small.' Continued
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The former head of MI6 says he is concerned about the big brother surveillance society and the 'loss of liberties' in Britain.
Sir Richard Dearlove said the extensive use of anti-terrorist stop and search powers by the Metropolitan Police in London was one of the worst examples.
He warned it could even be an 'abuse' of the law to use the power so excessively.
The former boss of the Secret Intelligence Service, who was in charge of combating Al-Qaeda in Britain in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, made the comments during a speech at the Hay Festival in Wales.
Sir Richard, head of MI6 between 1999 and 2004, said the number of searches was 'mind-boggling' and also spoke out against CCTV cameras.
He said the number used across the country was concerning because there is little legislation to govern their use.
And he said he found other areas of state intrusion 'striking and disturbing'.
He said: 'I'm a great believer in proportionality and as a citizen I worry about the loss of my liberties. Continued
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Thousands of people have been told they could be at risk of infections such as HIV or hepatitis because of a dentist's poor hygiene measures.
Patients in Bristol and Bournemouth have been sent letters alerting them to the potential risk of blood-borne infections after a dentist was found to have been operating poor infection control measures.
The concerns surround the possibility that dental instruments were not adequately sterilised.
NHS South Gloucestershire, NHS Bristol and NHS Bournemouth and Poole said the risk to patients was very low but they took the precautionary measure to reassure people.
Patients will be given the opportunity to attend a special clinic and have a blood test if they wish.
The dentist, a man who has not been named, worked at Frenchay Dental Practice in Bristol between January 2003 and July 2007, and at the East Street Dental Practice in the city for two weeks in December 2007.
Issues were raised when the dentist worked in the Bournemouth area from January last year.
He has been suspended pending an investigation by the General Dental Council.
In Bristol 5,000 patients who were treated at the two surgeries while the dentist was there have been sent the letters.
Director of public health at NHS South Gloucestershire, Dr Chris Payne, said there has never been a documented case in the UK of blood-borne viruses being passed from one patient to another in a dental practice and stressed that the risk is 'very very low'.
'We have no evidence that the dentist's practice was poor while at Frenchay or the Bedminster practice, but we realise that former patients may be anxious,' he said.
'We want to reassure them by offering them the opportunity to discuss the matter with a healthcare professional and have a blood test if they wish.
'This is because, if there was poor infection control practice, there is a very low risk that blood borne infections may have been passed from one patient to the next.
'This is a very rare event and may only happen when a small amount of infected blood from one person gets into the bloodstream of another patient.
'After these concerns were brought to our attention, NHS South Gloucestershire immediately arranged for an expert review of the infection control practices of the Frenchay Dental Practice and all NHS dentists working in South Gloucestershire.
'These quality checks have not identified any infection control issues.' News Source
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A swine flu pandemic is likely to hit Britain in the autumn, an expert has warned.
So far there has been a relatively low total of 244 confirmed cases in this country. But as the weather cools in September and October the number could rise, according to Professor John Oxford.
Children going back to school, universities reopening and workers returning after the summer break would give swine flu the 'opportunity' it needs, he said.
However, a vaccine may not be ready until October or November - after the pandemic strikes - and would only cover about 15 per cent of the population, the professor warned.
At Eton yesterday, a further 32 swine flu cases were reported. The school has been forced to close for a week, with pupils having to take exams in controlled conditions.
And Wales reported its first case of the disease - a 31-year-old man in Caerphilly who picked up the virus during a trip to the U.S.
Prof Oxford, a virologist at Barts Hospital, Central London, said yesterday: 'At the moment it's moving fairly quietly in the community.
'But when children go back to school in September the virus has an opportunity, and normally it takes it. That's the scenario we should prepare for, and that's what we are preparing for.
'It can die down, but then everybody around the world comes back together, universities re-open and people start returning to work and school, and that's when the trouble starts.'
He added: 'Already, sporadic cases in the UK have been shown that are not linked with cases that have travelled. That does suggest that the virus is silently spreading around.'
Prof Oxford warned that the virus would increase in strength as it spread, but good hygiene, minimising human contact, antivirals such as Tamiflu and, ultimately, the vaccine can slow the spread.
If a pandemic does strike, people should carry on as normal as possible, he added.
Prof Oxford said it was right that the World Health Organisation had not yet declared a pandemic and are watching what happens in Australia and South Africa, which are entering their flu seasons. News Source
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The lives of seriously ill patients are being put at risk every day because Government targets are forcing ambulances to wait up to five hours outside hospitals.
Thousands are being left in car parks, holding bays and corridors before being admitted to accident and emergency waiting rooms.
Critics last night blamed the failures on Labour's strict targets, which state that 98 per cent of those admitted to A&E must be treated within four hours.
As a result, they said, ambulances were being treated as 'mobile waiting rooms'.
Worries over the 999 service are increasing following the death of a woman in the West Midlands who spent three hours waiting to be seen by A&E doctors.
And in another case, an elderly woman with Alzheimer's was treated in a Liverpool hospital bathroom because no ambulances were available to take her to another unit.
The problems appear to be worsening.
In the past year, the number of patients waiting more than 30 minutes to be admitted to casualty has soared by two thirds in some areas.
In March alone, more than 100,000 ambulance journeys were delayed at A&E by half an hour or more - a rise of 18 per cent in just 12 months.
The figures, revealed after Freedom of Information requests, come months after hospital managers were forced to admit that two-hour waits are now 'relatively common'.
The documents also show that ambulance chiefs are becoming increasingly exasperated by hospitals' failure to put patient safety above targets, mainly because of possible financial penalties.
In a letter to hospital chief executives last November, Sir Graham Meldrum, chairman of the West Midlands Ambulance Service, said patients were 'being put at risk on a daily basis', with 7,600 a month facing delays of more than 30 minutes.
He also protested that, in just six months, hospitals had closed their doors to new 999 calls on 450 occasions - forcing ambulance drivers to travel long distances to other units.
Correspondence published in the Sunday Telegraph also records how a heated argument broke out between the heads of the Royal Liverpool Hospital and ambulance chiefs over the case of Gladys Joynes.
The 79-year-old grandmother was forced to stay in a hospital bathroom because too many ambulances were waiting outside A&E departments and were therefore unable to transport her to another unit.
Sam Oestricher, of trade union Unison, said ambulances were being treated as 'mobile waiting rooms'.
He added: 'Our members are spending hours effectively babysitting patients, who have been rushed to A&E departments.'
Health minister Ben Bradshaw said that 'severe action' would be taken against any hospitals found trying to cheat on A&E targets. News Source
Monday 1st June 2009
The economy is losing £4.9million every day because of the huge sums immigrants send home to their relatives, official figures show.
Analysis by the Office for National Statistics found that £4.1billion was sent out of the UK by migrants working here in 2007.
The figure is almost double the £2.3billion sent home in 1998, reflecting the huge increase in the number of migrant workers under Labour.
The total amount sent out of the UK over the past decade is £31.5billion.
Britons working abroad are also sending significant sums of cash home to relatives living here. In 2007, they sent £ 2.3billion to the UK, exactly the same level as in 1998.
But this still leaves a net outflow from the UK of £1.8billion, or £4.9million a day.
The figures, released in a letter to MPs by National Statistician Karen Dunnell, also show that the amount being sent home in remittances now rivals overseas aid in the support it provides to poorer economies.
In 2008, the overseas aid budget was £6.3billion.
Campaign group Migrationwatch UK said the £4billion cost of remittances was the equivalent of the two new aircraft carriers planned for the Royal Navy.
Chairman Sir Andrew Green said: 'We are not suggesting that remittances should be stopped - they are an important source of revenue for many families across the world - but claims that there are only positive economic benefits from mass immigration are clearly untrue.
'For years we have been told that immigration can only benefit the economy. But when the evidence is examined, that claim falls apart.
'As employment of foreign-born workers has risen, employment of UK-born workers has fallen. And now we find that remittances have shot up. So much for the benefits of uncontrolled immigration.'
Sir Andrew added that last year the House of Lords Select Committee on Economic Affairs found 'no evidence' that net immigration generates significant economic benefits for the existing UK population.
The remittance figures relate to 2007, the latest period analysed by the ONS.
But the total for 2008 - when Britain slid into recession - may be even higher, some analysts say.
In a recent speech, Trevor Phillips, chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, predicted that 'as the financial crisis squeezes the developing world' migrants would send home more money 'to see relatives through the bad patch'.
The Government, recognising huge public concern about the scale of immigration when the economy is in such deep trouble, last month reduced the number of work permits available to non-EU migrants.
But critics believe the number of non-EU workers is only likely to fall by around 24,300.
Border and Immigration Minister Phil Woolas said: 'People from overseas poured a record £14.2billion into the UK economy in 2007.
'The Government has made it clear that migration only works if it benefits the British people. That's why our tough new Australian- style points system allows in only those workers we need - and no more.' News Source
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It's a Bank Holiday ritual - travellers swooping to build illegal camps while councils are shut. So when officials get back to work, do they lift a finger to help decent families whose lives have been ruined? What do you think?
When Verina and David Hyland moved their family into a converted barn, the plan was to get back to nature and enjoy their horses amid the beautiful Wiltshire countryside.
But six years ago that idyllic lifestyle was shattered - after a group of travellers set up camp virtually in their back garden. Since then, their lives have been made a misery.
Dead dogs have been hurled into their property; their teenage daughter, Holly, has been subjected to obscene abuse; and threats and violence have become an almost daily occurrence.
'Some of the men who we'll pass on the road will make shooting gestures with their fingers when they see me or my daughter,' said Verina, 57.
'One of them told me that I'd put him through six years of hell, and now it was my turn.
'In the pub, a traveller told someone we know: "The Hyland family will all be found dead in their living room." It's really chilling to hear that.'
Complaints to the police have fallen on deaf ears, and as for the local council and the other authorities responsible for enforcing planning law, their response beggars belief.
After five years of inquiries and appeals, the 16-pitch, three-acre site in Minety was granted legal status, with permission for the travellers to stay indefinitely.
The reason? Planning inspector Karen Ridge ruled that the site offered them access to health and education and provided a 'settled base' for their children.
So much for the travellers' professed desire for a nomadic lifestyle. And so much for the Hylands - whose £500,000 property is now virtually worthless.
As another neighbour, Mike McTernan, says, it is hard not to feel bitter.
'It really is one law for us and another for them,' he said. 'I blame the council because they didn't do much to find them alternative sites, and in the end, I don't think they had the stomach for a fight.'
Those words will come as no surprise to law-abiding homeowners up and down the country who find themselves confronted with the ever-growing problem of illegal traveller encampments.
In what is fast becoming a staple of the British Bank Holiday, last weekend it was the turn of Newent in the Forest of Dean to suffer a travellers' invasion.
Within hours, a beautiful field was transformed into a vast campsite on top of hardcore rubble, complete with sewerage, toilets and electricity.
Working throughout the night in what villagers described as 'a military operation', they cleared the land, installed septic tanks and fenced off the area for 12 mobile home pitches.
Travellers move in on Bank Holidays because local council enforcement officers are likely to be less than diligent.
Over Easter last year, Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell experienced the phenomenon when the same thing happened near her country home in Shipston-on-Stour, Warwickshire.
Then on Good Friday of this year, travellers who had bought a three-acre field in Blackmore, Essex, moved in a gang of 60 men and laid 1,000 tons of hardcore.
But, as the Mail has discovered following yet another case last weekend, this time in Cricklade, near Swindon, the travellers might be unnecessarily sacrificing their holiday weekends - since they have little to fear from local government officers during normal working hours.
Residents in Cricklade had had their suspicions about a two-acre field on the edge of the 9th-century Saxon town, and were quick to summon a planning enforcement officer, armed with a 'Stop Notice', when they spotted the convoy of trucks on the Friday before the Spring Bank Holiday.
So did the travellers and their labourers down tools and comply with the legal order?
Of course not. Despite the notice being pinned to a fence post under the supervision of local police, work continued all weekend - the machinery supplied by the same Gloucester plant hire firm as in the Forest of Dean incident.
So what is the point of such a notice if it is simply ignored? A spokesman for Wiltshire County Council explained: 'If a Stop Notice is breached, then we can mount a criminal prosecution.'
After their notices to prevent further work were so flagrantly breached, was a prosecution launched?
'I'll have to get back to you on that,' he said, later adding: 'We're in discussion with our lawyers about what our next step should be.'
In other words, a week after the travellers breached the stop notices, nothing had been done. Next time, they don't need to wait for a public holiday.
There are other common factors that run through these cases.
First, the travellers legally purchased their land (often using a third party so their plans remain secret).
Second, they submitted a hastily drafted planning application minutes before the council offices closed for the Bank Holiday weekend (it would be at least three days before council officials were back at their desks to deal with the application).
However incomplete that form, that single sheet of paper gets them 'in the system' and will be the travellers' passport to at least several years of residence in their new homes.
As case after case has shown around the country, from Crays Hill in Essex to Cottenham in Cambridgeshire, once the bureaucratic leviathan which is the planning system starts to move, it takes a long time to get anywhere.
The travellers might, of course, find themselves evicted after the seemingly endless roundabout of planning application, decision, appeal, amendment, decision and more appeals has exhausted itself, as has happened on some of the pitches at Crays Hill and Cottenham.
But as the Hylands discovered to their financial and emotional cost, there's no guarantee of that. If the residents of Newent and Cricklade want to see what the future may hold, they should look to Minety.
Verina Hyland, her 55-year-old electrical contractor husband David and their two children moved there 15 years ago.
The 25-acre property, surrounded by pasture, was perfect for their four horses.
In August 2003, the family took an extended holiday in South Africa, visiting family and friends.
'When we got home, we were rather shocked by the camp which had sprung up on our doorstep,' recalled Verina. 'The whole place had gone up in a matter of days on a Green Belt site - and it looked atrocious.'
Soon, the aesthetics of the camp - built on a site the travellers had bought for £80,000 - were the least of their concerns.
'It wasn't long before we were getting burglar alarms and CCTV fitted,' said Mrs Hyland.
The first inkling of their new neighbours' demeanour came soon after, when Mrs Hyland's daughter Holly, then 19, was verbally abused by a group of men across the hedge while riding on her own paddock.
'She came back in tears,' said her mother. 'They'd called out obscene comments about what they'd like to do to her - I couldn't believe it.'
The Hylands didn't call the police, hoping that it would prove to be a one-off. They were not so lucky. Over the next six years, they would suffer countless death threats and acts of vandalism.
'I can't describe what it's been like without getting upset,' said Mrs Hyland. 'We've had dead dogs thrown over the hedge on two occasions.
'One of them was a bull terrier type of breed which my husband said looked as if it had been mauled to death by another dog, so we wondered whether there had been organised dog fighting.
'Then, one winter morning, I went to the stable block and found someone had turned the water taps full on so the horses were all standing in freezing water half-way up their legs. One of them nearly died from hypothermia.
'Another time, someone removed the screws from the bottom half of the stable door so that it fell off the hinges and could have landed on one of the horses. Luckily, none was injured.
'One of our pubs has been pretty much taken over by the travellers.
There have been quite a few punch-ups. My husband was slapped twice around the head there on Sunday night by one of them.
'But when I call the police, I get a lecture from the community support officer who tells me the travellers have told her a different story and that I shouldn't antagonise them.
'We're not violent people - we just want to get on with our lives.'
She feels that the family's home, which should be worth around £500,000, is virtually unsaleable.
'You have to declare any problems you have with your neighbours, so who would want to buy this place?' she said. Fly-tipping has increased in the area, and at least one prosecution has been brought against a traveller.
Nigel Ponting lives in a cottage which backs directly onto the site. His back garden and the rear of his house are completely overlooked by the travellers, and when they arrived, he watched as a row of portable toilets were placed against his fence.
Mr Ponting showed the planning inspector the view from his house, which had once looked onto open countryside.
But he's reluctant to speak publicly, no doubt fearful of another stone through his window. A few months after the travellers' arrival, North Wiltshire District Council threw out their retrospective planning application amid concerns over environmental impact and proximity to local homes.
But they appealed, and after a four day public inquiry in February 2005, planning inspector Andrew Kirby overturned the decision - even though he accepted that one of the traveller patriarchs, John Lamb, had lied to him and tried to conceal the fact that he already owned a legal plot in Westbury-on-Severn, 40 miles away.
Mr Kirby ruled that it made little difference because even if he were to evict Mr Lamb, his extended family already occupied the Minety plot.
Later that year, the then Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott stepped in and granted the families temporary permission to stay for 18 months.
In his ruling, Mr Prescott said he 'attaches significant weight to the personal needs' of the travellers.
Last year, planning inspector Karen Ridge granted them permission to stay indefinitely, because the site offered access to health and education and provided a 'settled base' for their children, despite travellers' professed desire for a nomadic lifestyle.
She said: 'Gipsies and travellers are believed to experience the worst health and education status of any disadvantaged group in England, and research confirms the link between the lack of good quality sites and poor health and education.
'A number of children from the site attend the local primary school and will undoubtedly have made friends within the community. They are no doubt benefiting from receiving continuity of education.'
She added: 'Some of the appellants have medical conditions, and a settled base will provide them with more certainty of health-care.'
Part of her decision was based on the fact that six suggested alternative sites had been judged unsuitable.
Unexpected visitors venture onto the Minety site at their peril. When I approached the motley collection of mobile homes, an unshaven man asked me my business.
'I advise you to f*** right off, now,' he said, adding: 'This is private property.'
And what news from the country redoubt of Minister Tessa Jowell? In December a planning inspector gave the new arrivals permission to stay for four years while the local authority tried to find suitable pitches.
That temporary stay could stretch into eternity. Another Bank Holiday building blitz has paid off.
As one of the travellers joked recently on one of their dedicated websites: 'If they gave gipsies the Olympic Village contract, we'd have it done in a weekend.'
True, but what a hideous eyesore it would doubtless be - and would they ever leave? News Source
Disclaimer: This article has been duplicated in its entirety to serve as public information (Ed)
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The British National Party has responded to the disgraceful attempt by the Turkish government to interfere in British elections with a hard-hitting leaflet opposing that country’s entry into the EU.
Under the heading “If you want Turkey for a neighbour, vote Tory, Lib or Labour”, the leaflet calls on British people not to holiday or in any way support Turkey.
The full text reads as follows: “Stop Turkey entering the EU and don’t let them tell you how to vote,” the leaflet starts, referring to the attempt last week by the Turkish embassy to get a BNP election leaflet banned.
“What a nerve! Turkey is a state where the army commanders threaten to grab power whenever a party which they don’t like is set to win an election. Turkey throws people into prison for writing about the brutal genocide of more than a million Christians by the Turkish army in 1915 — the same time they were raping and murdering thousands of British POWs on the Kut Death March.
“Yet still they have the cheek to try to tell us what we can and cannot put on our election leaflets. They have the nerve to try to deny you the right to read what the British National Party has to say and to make up your own mind.
“Here’s how you can tell Turkey to keep its nose out of our elections:
- Vote British National Party this Thursday.
- Tell your friends and get them to do the same.
- Boycott Turkey as a holiday choice (if you’re one of the lucky few who can afford a holiday now that the old politicians and their bankster friends have wrecked our economy). Go to Greece or the part of Cyprus that Turkey hasn’t yet invaded,” the leaflet says.
Point out that The Sunday Times coverage of the original Turkish Embassy story covered the fact that the BNP is the only party opposed to Turkey’s entry into the EU (which would allow 80 million Muslims to enter the UK). The leaflet continues:
“The other main parties in this election actively support the plan to let Turkey into the EU. The Tories are extra keen because their Big Business friends see a quick profit in it.
“Only the British National Party is 100% opposed to Turkey joining the European Union. We want to win seats so we can go to Brussels and join up with other patriotic parties to stop it.
“The plan by the professional politicians to give Turkey’s 80 million low-wage Muslims the automatic right to enter Britain would mean:
- Even higher unemployment
- Even lower wages
- Even more building on our precious greenbelt
- Even longer queues for healthcare
- Even stronger pressure to Islamicise Britain, undermining our democracy and Christian traditions
“Average wages in Turkey are so much lower than ours that millions are waiting to pour into Britain — if the out-of-touch old politicians are left in power to open the floodgates.
“If you thought the Eastern European invasion was bad around here, you won’t want to see your street once half of Turkey turns up on Britain’s doorstep. Send the old parties a message they cannot ignore: join the millions voting BNP this Thursday.”
The leaflet will be mass distributed in West Yorkshire and London, and will be available centrally. People in a hurry to get hold of a copy can download a PDF version here and print it for their own use. News Source
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More than half admit to working at home through the weekend, while two thirds won't leave without their phone or BlackBerry.
The survey, by OnePoll for the National Trust, also found that 45 per cent return to work exhausted on Mondays. One in ten of the 2,000 quizzed admit to taking their laptops on holiday.
43 per cent of those polled said they would feel better if they spent more free time outdoors. The National Trust is running a "Take Back the Weekend" campaign, to get Britons to spend more time outdoors.
Fiona Reynolds, the charity's director general, said: "From the results of our survey it is clear that there's huge benefit to be gained from making the most of our free time by enjoying the simple pleasures in life.
"People in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are never more than 40 minutes away from a National Trust property, where we can promise free time will be well spent.
"They offer beauty, expanses of parkland and gardens where visitors can recharge their batteries."
Workers in the South East are most worried about not spending time outdoors, while Northern Ireland has the hardest workers - with 51 per cent doing ten hour days.
Health psychologist, author and broadcaster, David Moxon, said: "Spending time outdoors can be beneficial for both our physical and mental health.
"Physically, we know that sunlight can enhance mood by affecting the production of bodily chemicals such as melatonin and serotonin. Being outdoors even on a dull day can lift our spirits." News Source
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Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, is to pay back more than £1,000 in service charges on a flat he claimed with his MP's expenses.
Darling announced he will repay money to the taxpayer after The Daily Telegraph revealed he claimed Parliamentary expenses for a flat that he let to tenants while also claiming living allowances for his grace-and-favour home in Downing Street
In July 2007, 10 days after he became Chancellor, Mr Darling submitted a £1,004 claim for a service charge on his south London flat. It covered the six-month period to the end of December 2007.
Mr Darling then moved into Downing Street and also began to claim second home allowances for his grace-and-favour apartments, meaning that costs relating to two of the Chancellor's homes were being met by the taxpayer at the same time.
That would appear to contravene parliamentary rules that allow MPs to claim on only one property at a time. He was also receiving rent for his flat from at least September 2007.
A spokesman for Mr Darling sought initially to deny the allegation this morning. He said: "The allegation of double claiming is simply untrue. He paid the bills due for his flat until he moved out in September 2007 after which he made no further claims for it."
But in a statement later in the morning, Mr Darling accepted that he claimed public money for the flat for several months when he was actually living in his grace-and-favour residence in Downing Street.
He said: “I will repay the service charge from September to December.”
Mr Darling’s decision to repay some money has intensified speculation that he could be removed from his post when Gordon Brown reshuffles his Cabinet in the wake of Thursday’s local and European elections.
Mr Brown, the Prime Minister, said the disclosures about Mr Darling's expenses have "obviously got to be investigated".
In a subsequent interview, the Prime Minister repeatedly refused to guarantee Mr Darling will keep his job and even spoke of his fellow Scot in the past tense.
“Alistair has been a great chancellor,” he said.
Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman, renewed his calls today for Mr Darling to be sacked.
Ed Balls, the Schools Secretary, is one option open to Mr Brown as a replacement. But that move would be controversial because of Mr Brown’s close relationship with his former Treasury adviser.
It has already been disclosed that Mr Darling is a "serial flipper" who has designated four properties as his second home in four years. He has also employed an accountant at taxpayers' expense to complete his self-assessment forms.
The disclosures come on the 25th day of The Telegraph's investigation into MPs' expenses, with Mr Brown under growing pressure to deal with members of his Cabinet who have made questionable claims.
The Daily Telegraph has seen documents that show that, although Mr Darling stopped claiming for the flat in September 2007, this only came after he had submitted a bill covering service charges for the remainder of the year 2007.
Mr Darling’s spokeswoman also denied that the Chancellor claimed expenses while designating 11 Downing Street as his second home.
However, again, documents covering at least four months show he claimed more than £1,000 during the autumn of 2007 relating to the grace-and-favour flat as his second home. The claims included £300 a month for food and £210 for bed linen.
Mr Brown claimed that Mr Darling - whom he described as “a close friend and colleague” – had done nothing wrong.
“As far as I understand it, these are the same kind of suggestions that were made a few weeks ago," the Prime Minister told BBC Radio's Today programme.
"They've been before people who review these things and I don't think that there is substance in these allegations, but obviously they have got to be investigated by the House of Commons committee that is looking at every MP including me.”
On Sunday, Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, singled out the Chancellor's expenses claims and demanded that Mr Darling be sacked.
"As Chancellor, Alistair Darling occupies a very special position in Government," he said. "He needs to enjoy the public's trust when it comes to issues of financial probity, of money, of managing our nation's finances.
"And given that very unique responsibility that he has, it's simply impossible for him to continue in that role when such very major question marks are being raised about his financial affairs." News Source
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Brown yesterday insisted he would reject any moves from within his Cabinet to encourage him to stand down as Prime Minister despite opinion polls suggesting Labour are heading for meltdown.
Mr Brown said he would refuse to move aside even if senior Labour figures told him it would help the party at a general election, arguing that his focus was on tackling the recession and pushing through a programme of constitutional reform. The government has been hardest hit by the public backlash over the MPs expenses scandal with one poll putting Labour in third place behind the Tories and the Liberal Democrats for the first time in 22 years.
Thursday's local and European elections could deliver a humiliating result for Labour but Mr Brown rejected renewed calls by Tory leader David Cameron for a snap general election. And the Liberal Democrats heaped further pressure on Mr Brown by calling for him to sack Chancellor Alistair Darling for allegedly being "caught with his hands in the till".
The Prime Minister pledged to introduce a binding "code of conduct" for MPs and yesterday hinted that an independent review of the pay and perks system would call for a ban on controversial "golden handshake" pay-offs for MPs. But plans to reform the system continue to be overshadowed by continuing revelations which yesterday included Labour backbencher Frank Cook's attempt to get the taxpayer to reimburse a £5 donation he made at a Battle of Britain memorial service.
Mr Cook said the claim had been a genuine mistake forwhich he apologised. Mr Brown said: "Most MPs are doing a good job. They are in for public service, they are in for what they give not what they can get. But where a few MPs have abused the system they have got to pay back and there has got to be punishment and discipline."
Asked whether he would step aside if asked by senior Cabinet colleagues, Mr Brown said: "No, because I am dealing with the issues at hand. I am dealing with the economy every day." He acknowledged that voters were angry about seeing public money "wasted" on their MPs during a recession but urged them not to support parties intent on withdrawing from Europe.
Mr Brown received support from Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband and Business Secretary Lord Mandelson who both said he was the best man to lead the country out of recession. Meanwhile Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg backed a call by his economics spokesman Vince Cable for Mr Darling to be thrown out of 11 Downing Street after he claimed for accountant's fees and switching his second home.
But Mr Darling's office insisted he had done nothing wrong and the pair were accused of descending to "cheap jibes" by Lord Mandelson. Mr Cable used his column in the Mail on Sunday to demand the Chancellor's scalp, writing: "Here is the company finance director caught with his fingers in the till.
"He doesn't explain. He doesn't apologise. He just blames his colleagues for not stopping him. His moral authority has vanished. He must go, now. We need a Chancellor focusing on the national accounts rather than his own. There are some urgent economic questions to address."
Mr Darling was among ministers who used public money to complete their personal tax returns, his own bills coming to £1,400 over two years.
It was also reported by The Daily Telegraph that he "flipped" the location of his second home four times in four years, allowing him to claim thousands towards the cost of his Edinburgh home and a London flat.
His spokeswoman rejected all claims of wrongdoing by Mr Cable. She said Mr Darling paid for personal tax advice himself and accountant's fees were only claimed for preparing his office accounts. She added: "He changed the designation of his second home when his circumstances changed in accordance with the rules. He also pays tax on the benefit of living in Downing Street and pays the council tax there." News Source
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Authorities at Murtala Mohammed International airport in the Nigerian city of Lagos are demanding bribes from gardai before accepting illegal immigrants who are deported from Ireland.
Officials at the airport refuse to allow members of the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) to repatriate Nigerian deportees who arrive on board special charter flights unless they receive payments or gifts, including bottles of Irish whiskey.
The practice of supplying “gifts” to security officials at the airport, which is the main transit point for Nigerian nationals deported by gardai, has been in place for years.
Security sources say they have no option but to offer bribes to ensure that deportees are allowed to disembark from charter flights.
“If they didn’t get something out of each charter flight, by way of money or gifts, they wouldn’t allow the deportees to even step off the plane,” a source said. “Believe it or not, the situation at the airport has improved in recent years. It used to be worse.”
The money used to pay for such gifts is accounted for in expenses or petty cash by immigration officers. The alcohol is usually purchased by garda detectives prior to the departure of charter flights.
Murtala Mohammed International airport, which is 10 miles outside Lagos, has a reputation of being one of the most corrupt on the continent, although the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Aviation has made efforts to curb corruption among officials.
According to travel websites, tourists passing through the airport are advised to bring extra money to pay bribes to officials. Immigration officers often demand money before stamping passports, while customs officers sometimes levy non-existent taxes.
The practice of giving bribes to immigration and security officials is known to other European police forces who are tasked with repatriating Nigerian immigrants.
“More Nigerians apply for asylum in the EU than perhaps any other nationality,” said the security source.
“Most EU police forces charter flights to deport large numbers who have illegally entered the EU and all of them offer bribes, be they gifts or money, on arrival at Lagos.
“No police or immigration officer wants to go along with this, but it’s the way they do business out there and it’s the only way of ensuring that the Nigerian authorities will accept our deportees.”
The Department of Justice spent almost €6.5m deporting 1,493 failed asylum seekers between 2004 and 2008. It spent €727,197 deporting 95 asylum seekers in 2008.
Gardai usually have to accompany a failed asylum seeker in case they pose a security threat to airline staff. News Source
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As militants attack his home with burning tyres and drive workers from his land, one of the last white farmers in Zimbabwe feels betrayed by the new Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai
The invaders came at 11pm. Fifteen of them — singing, chanting and crashing metal objects together by our windows. “Out, out,” they shouted as they surrounded our farm — they certainly wanted us out. They broke into the house and dragged burning tyres through the front door. They invaded the hallway and occupied the courtyard. The flames leapt into the thatch as they pulled the tyres under it, but it did not catch alight.
This was last Tuesday. I called the police but then the invaders took the phone away. Their leader, who calls himself “Landmine”, was armed with a rifle. They pushed us around and raised sticks and said that we must leave. They beat my tonga drum so hard that the cowhide skin broke.
One of them went up to the children, who had been woken by the din. “Josh, Josh, there’s a man in our room,” said Anna, 4. Joshua, 9, told my wife Laura afterwards that the man was making hyena noises. My other son, Stephen, is 7.
Police arrived and the invaders were ushered out. None was arrested, but “Landmine” did return my phone at the request of the police. When the police left, though, the invaders resumed their attack. They did not break in this time, but they made a lot of noise, circling the house like whooping hyenas and shouting before they left: “We will eat the children.”
By the time the police came back a second time the invaders had given up: returning to the house of my wife’s parents on the other side of the farm. My parents-in-law were evicted by “Landmine” two months ago.
To be caught on the edge of life, isolated, without help and abandoned, is a hard thing. This is how it is living on a farm in Zimbabwe today.
Our house, surrounded by wild stretches of swaying savannah grasses, should be a haven of peace. For us, though, looking out and listening, there are things we see and hear that make our hearts beat fast and our minds race. It is like looking out on a tranquil river, the languid stretches of the mighty Zambezi, and somehow being able to see the crocodiles beneath the surface lying in wait for the one who is careless and not alert.
We thought that with the new Government, and Morgan Tsvangirai becoming the Prime Minister, things might get better. Underneath the waters, though, we knew that the great crocodile, Robert Mugabe, was still in control. It is clear to us now that Tsvangirai does not want to harm Mugabe’s “sacred cow” — the eviction of the last of the white men from their farms must continue. Last week Tsvangirai said that there were invasions on only “one or two farms” and that they have been “blown out of proportion”. This is not the truth. Almost every white farmer that has so far survived is either being prosecuted criminally by the State for still being on his farm, or is facing an attack in which invaders take the law into their own hands.
To stay in our home, which we built on the farm from nothing in 1999, is a battle of wits and nerve — a battle that has raged since we completed our house and had our first child. Joshua, born three days before 2000, has known nothing but farm attacks. His first brush with the invaders was when he was four months old. We were driving out to visit another farm, but militia had erected a road block on the driveway. The invaders stopped us and smashed our car windows with axes and rocks. We had to drive for our lives, with Joshua in his carrycot on the back seat. Continued
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Cameron was dragged personally into the expenses row last night after it was revealed that he paid off a loan on his London home shortly after taking out a £350,000 taxpayer-funded mortgage on his constituency house.
The disclosure followed a powerful call by the Tory leader yesterday for the ‘full force of the law’ to be deployed against MPs who have abused allowances.
Following a Mail on Sunday investigation Mr Cameron could now face searching questions about his own expense claims.
He took out the £350,000 mortgage – close to the maximum amount that can be claimed for – to buy a large house in Oxfordshire in August 2001, two months after winning his Witney seat in the General Election. By nominating it as his second home, he was able to claim for the mortgage interest payments under the now-infamous Commons’ Additional Costs Allowance (ACA).
Just four months after securing the £350,000 mortgage, Mr Cameron paid off the £75,000 loan on his London home, taken out only six years earlier.
There is no suggestion that he broke any rules. But mortgage experts say that if he had kept the loan on his London home and borrowed £75,000 less on the Oxfordshire property, taxpayers could have been saved more than £22,000 between 2002 and 2007.
The revelations came as Gordon Brown was warned that he faces a new threat to his leadership if Labour is beaten by the UK Independence Party in Thursday’s European elections.
And in today’s Mail on Sunday, Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman Vince Cable calls for ‘immoral’ Chancellor Alistair Darling to resign for ‘being caught with his fingers in the till’ by abusing his expenses.
Last night, Mr Cameron insisted that his mortgage claims had been ‘perfectly reasonable’ and denied that reducing his Oxfordshire loan would have helped the taxpayer.
A statement said: ‘David Cameron paid off his London mortgage with his own money which came from the sale of shares and money built up while working at Carlton TV. He bought a home in his constituency and claimed for mortgage interest payments, which is perfectly reasonable and the intended use of the second-home allowance.
He later paid down a part of this mortgage and claimed for some basic utility bills.
‘He made it very clear several weeks ago that he would not claim for a second home if he became Prime Minister and lived in No10.
‘We are pleased that Gordon Brown and other members of the Cabinet have now adopted this policy and will no longer be able to claim for their second homes while living in grace-and-favour apartments.’
A later statement said: ‘If he had paid £75,000 toward Oxfordshire it would not have been cheaper for the taxpayer, as that mortgage is far higher than the amount he was able to claim for – particularly in 2001, when the amount you were able to claim for was much lower.’
Ten days ago, at a meeting with his Witney constituents to answer their questions on expenses, Mr Cameron candidly admitted claiming ‘close to the maximum’.
But he failed to mention that he had paid off his London loan shortly after he had secured it.
‘From 2001 to 2007, the only thing I really claimed for in respect of my second home was the interest on a mortgage – not the repayments, but the interest,’ he told the meeting.
‘It was a very large mortgage. It was £350,000 worth of mortgage. It was about £1,700 a month that I was claiming. That was quite close to the maximum you could claim at the time but I did not at that stage claim for anything else.
‘In 2007, I was able to pay down the mortgage a little bit [by £100,000], so it was a £250,000 mortgage, paying about £1,000 in mortgage interest every month, and so I also claimed for what I would call some pretty straightforward household bills – council tax, oil, gas and other utility type bills and insurance on the property.
‘I now claim less than the maximum. I don’t claim all of those utility bills. I claim a percentage of them, because I think that’s right and fair.’
Today’s disclosures may spark fresh criticism among some Conservatives about Mr Cameron’s forceful handling of the expenses row. They believe he is using the scandal as an excuse to clear out traditionalists who stand in the way of his modernising project, while largely protecting members of his inner circle.
Until now, Mr Cameron has made only one concession on his expenses – admitting that he was wrong to claim £680 to have wisteria removed from the chimney of his Oxfordshire home. He has repaid the money.
Now The Mail on Sunday can provide a more detailed account of his property dealings and how they relate to his expenses.
According to Land Registry documents, in 1995 Mr Cameron paid £215,000 for a house in Kensington, West London, which was part-funded with a £75,000 mortgage from Alliance & Leicester.
In August 2001, just a month after the second-home allowance went up by a staggering £5,840 per annum – from £13,628 to £19,468 – and two months after he entered the Commons, he paid £650,000 for the constituency house in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, and used the property as security for a £350,000 loan from HSBC.
Mr Cameron’s spokesman said last night that his offer on the house had been accepted three months earlier in May 2001.
Then, in December of that year, the Land Registry removed the Alliance & Leicester charge from its records for the Kensington home after the loan was ‘discharged by electronic means.’
Cameron sold the Kensington property in 2005 for £1,150,000 – a profit of £935,000 – and bought another house nearby. His Oxfordshire home is estimated to be worth just under £1million, a paper profit of more than £300,000.
His mortgage claim is potentially contentious because, coincidentally or not, experts say that it corresponds approximately to the upper limit of the ACA, which covers the costs of running an MP’s second home. In the financial year 2002-03, the first full year Mr Cameron claimed under the ACA, he received the maximum £19,722.
In 2003-04, he claimed £20,328, just £5 less than the maximum, and in 2004-05 he took the maximum of £20,902.
In total, between 2002 and 2007 he claimed £102,874. If he had paid off £75,000 of the Oxfordshire loan, rather than clearing the mortgage on his London home, the bill would have been about £22,500 lower.
In an interview yesterday, Mr Cameron said: ‘When I was first elected, I was renting rather than owning a home and I couldn’t find my rent bill. The fees office said, “Don’t worry, just claim for food.” I said, “I haven’t had any food,” and I went and found my rent bill.’
In the interview, Mr Cameron maintained his hardline stance by calling for any MPs who have used taxpayers’ money to pay for ‘phantom’ mortgages to be investigated by the police.
He said he was outraged by Sir Peter Viggers, who claimed for a floating duck house, Douglas Hogg, who claimed for his moat to be cleared, and Anthony Steen, who recouped the cost of tree surgery and guarding his shrubs against rabbits.
All three – regarded by modernising Tories as anti-reform ‘bed-blockers’ – have announced that they will stand down at the next Election.
Only one Cameron ally, his adviser Andrew MacKay, has been forced to leave the Commons following revelations that he and his MP wife Julie Kirkbride had claimed more than £250,000 in second-home allowances by ‘double dipping’.
On Friday, Mr Cameron said that Bill Cash, a veteran Eurosceptic regarded as a troublemaker by the party leadership, had ‘serious questions’ to answer about claiming for rent payments to his daughter.
One Tory MP last night attacked Mr Cameron’s alleged ‘double standards’ crackdown on some MPs and soft handling of others. ‘It’s like living through one of Stalin’s purges,’ said the MP.
‘It’s all deeply divisive. Some people are being asked simply to apologise while others are being told they have questions to answer. That’s code for: let’s get all the lunatics in a local constituency to stage a public execution.
‘Although MPs have simply been obeying the rules as they were, Cameron is saying that’s not enough. He seems to want to make burnt offerings of other MPs. Fine, but on that basis, why doesn’t he repay years of mortgage interest claims above £1,250 a month that he’s claimed for?’
In his defence, it could be argued that what Mr Cameron has done with Commons expenses pales into insignificance next to Tony Blair. He used the ACA to help pay for a £296,000 mortgage on a house that he had bought for £30,000 in 1983. He claimed just under a third of the interest back from the taxpayer.
He remortgaged the constituency home in Trimdon, County Durham, in 2003 – shortly before he paid £3.65 million for a London townhouse which became his post-Downing Street home.
Gordon Brown has also been at the centre of controversy after claiming for payments of £6,577 to his brother Andrew over a 26-month period for a cleaner shared by the pair.
Moreover, Mr Cameron has said that if he enters Downing Street, and has use of the official country residence of Chequers, he will give up his second-home allowance completely, a ban that would extend to other Ministers who are entitled to use grace-and-favour apartments. News Source
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He told Channel 4 News: 'I obviously will abide by anything the scrutiny panel that I've established and set up.
'My scrutiny panel is not like the House of Commons. It doesn't just go through and say, what were the rules at the time. It's actually trying to ask a deeper question, which is what is reasonable and what is right.'
In a statement earlier the Tories said taxpayers had not lost any money. It said: 'If he had paid £75,000 toward Oxon it would not have been cheaper for the taxpayer, as that mortgage is far higher than the amount he was able to claim for - particularly in 2001, when the amount you were able to claim for was much lower.'
But Labour MP John Mann - who has spearheaded calls for a clean-up of MPs' expenses - said: 'People will find it hard to believe that Mr Cameron's decision to arrange his finances so that all of his mortgage debt was on a property funded by parliamentary allowances meant no extra cost to the taxpayer, as compared to continuing to share the debt between two properties.
'It may be embarrassing for him to volunteer to go through his own scrutiny process, but simply appearing before an in-house panel that answers directly to him isn't going to convince anyone and wouldn't be good enough.' News Source
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Former Tory leader Michael Howard claimed more than £17,000 for ‘gardening services’ at his second home in Kent over four years, it has been claimed.
His invoices from The Turned Worm Gardening Company and another gardener came to £17,351 between 2004 and 2008, the Daily Telegraph reported.
The £5,092 he claimed for the ‘gardening services’ in 2004/05 was far greater than his annual mortgage interest, utility bills or council tax.
Mr Howard’s main residence is a house in London not the countryside property in his constituency, which has attached woodland.
Last night the MP for Folkestone and Hythe said: ‘By no means all the sums claimed were for gardening services.
'The person who looks after my garden at my second home also looks after my house.’
He added he believed he was the 31st least expensive MP in the House of Commons.
Other MPs highlighted were:
- Jacqui Lait, a Conservative, overclaimed on her second home mortgage for three years and had to pay back more than £7,000 when the fees office noticed, according to the paper.
Mrs Lait, a former shadow planning minister, told the paper she had a fixed-rate mortgage on the Beckenham flat and did not notice she was claiming the wrong amount.
‘For the years quoted, as my monthly mortgage payments never varied, I made the mistake of claiming the same interest cost, not noticing that these costs were reducing as the repaid capital increased,’ she said.
- Gwyn Prosser, of Labour, paid his brother to lay flooring at his London flat although he reportedly lived almost 200 miles away.
Mr Prosser said his brother was ‘good value for money’.‘Luckily the fees office spotted it and alerted me.’
- Tory Mark Hoban was said to have claimed £35 for a toilet roll holder, £100 for a chrome shower rack and £79 for four red silk cushion covers on his second home allowance.
Mr Hoban told the Telegraph: ‘At the time I made these claims I believed that they were reasonable and within the spirit of the rules.’
- Lib Dem Evan Harris was reported to have spent thousands adding value to his designated second home before selling it to his parents.
The MP was allowed by the fees office to increase his mortgage on his Westminster flat to pay for the £40,000 cost of extending the lease, according to the Telegraph.
The paper also said he spent more than £6,600 of taxpayers’ funds doing up the apartment before selling it to his parents in 2008 for £200,000 more than he paid for it in 1997.
Mr Harris said: ‘I reject any implied impropriety. There was no refurbishment and no major expenditure on redecoration. The only major item was a plumbing bill to repair a leak.
‘The flat was sold under best practice - being sold at a price recommended by an independent external valuer.’ News Source
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The ongoing expenses scandal, created by all three parties at Westminster, has destroyed many people’s faith in democracy. Radical action is needed to correct this state of affairs.
As part of our programme of wide ranging reform, the British National Party has launched a petition to introduce a law allowing voters to sack Members of Parliament who have violated the trust between Parliament and the voters.
The key demands of this petition are:
1) Give the people power to sack MPs.
The BNP wants to give voters the power to sack MPs by signing a petition to “recall” them. MPs should be forced to seek immediate re-election if ten percent of constituents sign up to the demand.
Many states in America already operate similar systems. In California Arnold Schwarzenegger won the governorship in a 2003 ballot triggered by a petition demanding the recall of Gray Davis who many saw as corrupt and ineffective.
“The expenses scandals have badly shaken faith in our democracy,” said BNP leader Nick Griffin. “People are angry, disillusioned and alienated. The BNP will benefit at the polls, but we care about our country and want good systems which enjoy public confidence.
“We need MPs to answer to the people. Why should we be stuck with disgraced MPs until the next General Election? People must have the power to remove an MP who has acted corruptly or flouted their electors’ wishes. It’s a radical reform but a necessary one.”
His comments come after thirteen and counting MPs have announced that they will not seek re-election. These include Sir Nicholas and Ann Winterton who claimed £80,000 for a flat owned by a trust their children controlled, and Elliot Morley, who claimed £16,000 over 18 months for a mortgage that did not exist.
If these parasites cling on till the next election, they will receive generous resettlement and winding-up allowances which will cost the taxpayers further millions.
2) Independently audit the expense accounts of MPs for the whole of their term of office.
The BNP wants a forensic audit of the expenses of all MPs for their whole term of office. The public is entitled to expect and demand this.
The auditing body must be entirely separate and independent. A body similar to the Certification Office which regulates Trade Unions could be used as a model.
Furthermore, a panel of senior barristers must be appointed to provide a definitive interpretation of the rules contained in the ‘Green Book’. The auditors must then compare claims that have been paid against this interpretation. Every single claim which does not fall within the rules must be immediately repaid by the MPs concerned without exception.
A panel of three judges determine whether, in their opinion, any criminal offences have been committed by any MP, such as attempting to gain a pecuniary advantage, deception or fraud. Those that are considered to have a case to answer must be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. A separate investigation by tax authorities should also be conducted into the expense claims.
Do you agree that root and branch reform is needed? Then sign our online petition by clicking here.
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An immigration judge who had a "chilli hot" affair with his Brazilian cleaner has been paid nearly £300,000 by the taxpayer despite not working for two and a half years.
Mohammed Ilyas Khan, 63, was criticised by Britain's most senior judge last May after an investigation into his conduct. It was prompted by a blackmail case involving him, his 40-year-old cleaner Roselane Driza, who was an illegal immigrant, a woman judge and claims about sex videos.
At the time, Judge Khan - who was sent on gardening leave on full pay while the 19-month inquiry took place - had received more than £170,000 from the public purse for doing nothing.
For the last 12 months he has been paid his full salary of £111,155 despite having been off sick since the inquiry was concluded. This means he has received more than £280,000 from the taxpayer, even though he has not worked since October 2006 and for a year has been regarded as unlikely ever to return to work.
The Ministry of Justice confirmed that Judge Khan remained on full pay but declined to give any further explanation beyond saying that it was "urgently reviewing" his status.
The revelation will raise questions about the Government's management of taxpayers' money and prompt fresh criticism from those who argue that public employees often enjoy more generous treatment than those in the private sector. The latest controversy surrounding Judge Khan, who presided over cases at the Government's asylum and immigration tribunal, follows earlier calls for him to be sacked for bringing the judiciary into disrepute.
Those demands were prompted by his decision to employ Ms Driza as his cleaner. It emerged during her 2006 trial for blackmail that he sent her texts calling her “chilli hot stuff” and describing her as “a lovely shag”.
The Office for Judicial Complaints, headed by the then Lord Chief Justice, Lord Phillips, held an inquiry into Judge Khan's conduct but decided to allow him to keep his job despite criticising his behaviour.
In a statement to announce his decisio n last May, Lord Phillips said Judge Khan's health was not good enough for there to be a more in-depth investigation, despite his and the woman judge's “poor judgment” for employing Ms Driza without properly checking her immigration status.
At the time, officials indicated that Judge Khan, who went on sick leave as soon as the investigation was concluded, was unlikely ever to return to work because of his worsening health.
Under normal employment practice this might have been expected to lead to the judge eventually being placed on statutory sick pay, rather than his full salary, and considered for early retirement on health grounds. No such action has been taken so far in Judge Khan's case, with the result being that he has continued to receive his full pay despite there being no apparent prospect of him resuming his career on the bench.
A Ministry of Justice spokeswoman said: “Judge Khan has remained on full salary since sick leave began in May 2008, and we are now looking at this case.”
Judge Khan will also be able to pick up his full pension entitlement, which will be at least £48,000 a year plus a lump sum of more than £100,000.
Judge Khan was initially required to stand down after Ms Driza's trial in September 2006.
During her trial Ms Driza, of South Norwood, who entered Britain as a tourist in 1998 and overstayed her visa, was accused of stealing videos showing Judge Khan having sex with the female judge and another woman and using them to try to blackmail the woman judge, who cannot be named, for £20,000.
Ms Driza was jailed for 33 months. Sentencing her, the Recorder of London, Judge Beaumont, told her she was a “greedy and determined woman”. But she was freed on appeal. She was cleared in July 2007 when the Crown Prosecution Service decided not to press ahead with a retrial because both Judge Khan, who was initially labelled Judge K, and the woman judge, Judge J, were deemed to be too ill to give evidence.
Judge J, who was on a salary of £117,680, received £205,000 in pay during the 18 months she was off sick before the trial. She retired on grounds of ill health on December 31, 2006, and receives a medical pension. Ms Driza — whose ex-husband is an Albanian gangster convicted of murder — stayed in Britain after her permission to stay expired in 1999. The sordid details of the blackmail case were played out in a court case which ruined Judge Khan's reputation.
No judge has been sacked since 1983, when a member of the bench was dismissed after smuggling whisky from Guernsey. News Source
Sunday 31st May 2009
Revised figures are to be produced in an attempt to get to grips with the scale of Britain's fast-growing population and the impact of immigration.
The new count will rewrite the published estimates of the number in the country, currently said to be over 60million and rising by half a million a year.
However it will not be made public until after the General Election.
The decision to hold back the revised count was said yesterday by the Office for National Statistics to be unconnected to 'political considerations'.
But critics of Labour's immigration policies said population is a major political concern and condemned the delay.
Current estimates rely on the results of the disastrous 2001 census and the Government's International Passenger Survey. In 2006, the survey interviewed just 3,000 of 800,000 people thought to have moved into or out of Britain. New techniques include expanding the survey to more ports and airports.
ONS officials say they intend to publish the revised numbers in May next year - the last possible date for the General Election. No controversial figures would be announced during an election campaign.
A spokesman for the ONS said publication must be delayed until the figures have been thoroughly checked. She added: 'Political considerations did not influence the timing in any way.'
But Sir Andrew Green of the Migrationwatch think tank said:
'There are shades of the last election when we heard the Prime Minister swear blind that estimates of illegal immigration were impossible, only to find the Home Office publishing just such an estimate a month later.
'Opinion polls have found that 80 per cent of the public do not believe that the Government has been honest about immigration.
'These results must be published before the election if there is to be an open and informed debate on this vital subject.' News Source
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All British National Party members and supporters have been urged to be on the lookout for polling station fraud committed by corrupt officials who may seek to cast ghost votes in the election on June 4th, party leader Nick Griffin has announced.
“We have received information that certain corrupt officials at some polling stations have devised a plan whereby they intend to vote on other people’s behalf towards the end of polling day,” Mr Griffin said.
“Apparently the plan is to wait until late on polling day, and then to start crossing off names of people on the electoral register who have not yet voted and then voting on their behalf,” Mr Griffin said.
“Such a scam is simple to carry out with only two corrupt officials in on it at a polling station,” he continued. “The plan also involves an escape route if the person whose name has just been crossed off comes in to vote at the last moment. The answer that has already been devised entails simply giving the voter a ballot sheet and then crossing someone else’s name off the register as having voted.
“The plan is outrageously simple to effect, and an unaware public might well be none the wiser.
“We need all members and supporters to try to vote as late in the day as possible, and then to demand to see their entries on the register.
”If anyone spots any such signs of tampering, or if they find that their names have already been crossed off, they must immediately call the police and contact the BNP by whichever means is most direct, either using the telephone hotline number 02070 783286, by email to fightback @ bnp.org.uk or by contacting a local BNP organiser or official,” Mr Griffin said.
“We know that the far left are planning all sorts of underhand tactics in the run-up to polling day, but this one is of such a severe nature that we have no choice but to publicise it,” he said.
“Together we will be able to put a spoke in their plans - but everyone must play their part.” News Source
See Also:
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“How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy.
“The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity.
“The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property, either as a child, a wife, or a concubine, must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men.
“Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities - but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world.
“Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the science against which it had vainly struggled, the civilization of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilization of ancient Rome.” — Winston Churchill, The River War: An Historical Account of the Reconquest of the Soudan (first edition, Vol. II, pages 248-50, London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1899).
David Cameron on Islam
“Not for the first time, I found myself thinking that it is mainstream Britain which needs to integrate more with the British (Muslim) Asian way of life, not the other way around.” — David Cameron, ‘What I learnt from my stay with a Muslim family’, The Observer, Sunday, 13 May 2007.
Winston Churchill on Europe
“Membership of the Common Market will forfeit our insular or commonwealth wide character.” — Winston Churchill, Cabinet Memorandum 29, dated November 1953.
“We are with Europe but not of it; we are linked but not compromised. We are associated but not absorbed. If Britain must choose between Europe and the open sea, she must always choose the open sea.” — Winston Churchill, House of Commons on May 11, 1953.
David Cameron on Europe
“The Single Market is a great achievement, which the Conservative Party has always strongly supported. We want an EU that looks out to the world, not in on itself. . . We will be strong defenders of the Single Market within Europe, and free trade with the rest of the world … We want to keep the doors of the EU open to new members like the Balkan states and, in due course, Turkey. — David Cameron writing in the Conservative Party’s ‘European Manifesto,’ 2009.
Winston Churchill on Immigration
“I am considering blocking all immigration to Britain because I fear a growing coloured population will pose a threat to Britain’s social stability. We do not want a parti-coloured UK.” — Winston Churchill, Cabinet Memorandum, dated February 1953.
“Problems will arise if many coloured people settle here. Are we to saddle ourselves with colour problems in UK? Immigrants are attracted here by the welfare state. Public opinion in UK won’t tolerate it once it gets beyond certain limits.” — Winston Churchill, Cabinet memorandum, February 1954.
David Cameron on Immigration
“Immigration is a good thing. Immigrants actually create more employment. As we write off our fellow citizens from participating in the workforce, other countries’ citizens take their place.
“The gaps in the labour market are, very naturally, being filled by migrant workers. That, in itself, is a good thing, not a bad thing.
“We should not try to unlock the potential of our own citizens by locking out the citizens of other countries. When willing, able and energetic people come to this country to work, they don’t crowd out other people from the labour market.
“As the Fresh Talent initiative by the Scottish Executive recognises, skilled foreign workers expand our economy and make us more competitive. Ultimately they create more employment.” — David Cameron, speech to Disability Scotland, 15 November 2006.
The British National Party - Winston Churchill’s spiritual home.
Vote BNP on 4th June 2009 and save Britain from the Tory, Labour and Lib-Dem nation-wreckers. News Source
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Brown is bombarding thousands of voters with personal letters apologising for the expenses scandal in a bid to drum up Labour support at the European elections next week.
The Prime Minister was accused last night of cynically politicising the fiasco.
In a bid to tar the Tories as the worst offenders, Mr Brown's letter denounces the way Conservative MPs were caught using taxpayers' money to clean their moats and maintain their swimming pools.
At the bottom of each page the document urges readers to 'Vote Labour on June 4', the date of the council and European elections, where Labour is expected to endure its worst election night in three decades.
Headed 'The Right Honourable Gordon Brown MP', the typed letter acknowledges the 'anger' felt by voters over the expenses scandal and apologises 'on behalf of all political parties' for the way the political system has let voters down.
Mr Brown's two-page letter says: 'MPs should never have spent expenses money on clearing their moats or swimming pools or paying phantom mortgages and it is even worse at a time when ordinary families are worried about the impact of the recession.' Continued
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Three men have been jailed for a total of 11 years for their part in a million pound bank fraud involving HBOS.
Naison Mubaiwa, 34, of Leeds and Paddington Muzondiwa, 25, of Swindon, were sentenced to three-and-a-half years and two years respectivley at Leeds Crown Court after pleading guilty to conspiracy to defraud in connection with the theft of high value cheques between January 2007 and August 2008.
All three are Zimbabwean nationals and are failed asylum seekers in the UK.
Mudavanhu Diza, 47, of Leeds was found guilty by a jury of conspiracy to defraud in March. He was sent to prison for five years.
Four other men have been dealt with by police for their part in the scam and another 10 are on police bail. Prosecutor Timothy Capstick said the ringleader of the fraud, Joseph Mhaka, had gone on the run and was being hunted by police.
The fraud involved cheque books, cards and other banking documents being intercepted at a branch of the bank in Leeds.
The stolen cheques were altered and deposited into bank accounts set up by those involved. The cash was then later withdrawn.
Mr Capstick said the scale of loss amounted to £1.3 million.
Sentencing the trio, Judge Kerry MacGill said: "You were all in this to make money and knew that potentially large sums of money would be involved.
"The face value of the cheques was well over £1 million.
"You are all from Zimbabwe and there has to be a link. Whether you came here to better yourselves because of what the UK could offer you, what the UK does not provide for you is to go on and commit crime.
"This was fraud on a grand scale." News Source
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A London MP was caught in a new expenses row today over using taxpayers' cash to fund her constituency party.
An Evening Standard investigation has found that Barking MP Margaret Hodge has let her local Labour party use half of the two-storey building she rents in the constituency.
Ms Hodge used public funds totalling more than £60,000 to rent and equip 102 North Street in the town centre.
The first floor is Ms Hodge's constituency office, where she and her staff deal with casework and constituency issues, the purpose for which the allowance was designed.
But the ground floor has become the headquarters of Barking Constituency Labour Party, which never had a base of its own until Ms Hodge provided one.
The MP's constituency secretary, Mike Haywood, said Ms Hodge's use of her parliamentary office costs allowance in this way was approved by the House of Commons Fees Office.
Labour's election campaigning in Barking is co-ordinated from her office, executive and branch committees meet there, and its election leaflets are printed and sorted there.
The Standard has obtained numerous letters, agendas, circulars, meeting minutes and election leaflets sent out by the Barking Labour Party, all of which carry the North Street address.
The phone number given for Barking Labour Party in the Yell.com directory enquiry service is the same as Ms Hodge's constituency advice line. The phone bill on this number is paid by the taxpayer.
The MP has had the property for about three and a half years. The landlord, Barking council, confirmed that she is the sole tenant and the rent is paid out of her parliamentary office costs allowance.
A council spokesman said: "The amount is paid to us directly by the Commons Fees Office."
Ms Hodge's arrangement appears to breach Commons rules, which state that no payments under the allowances may "provide a benefit to a party political organisation" and MPs "must not sublet accommodation which [they] lease and pay for out of the allowances".
Mr Haywood admitted the building was in "regular use" by Barking Labour Party but insisted the party did pay a "nominal sum" of up to £200 a year for the use of the property.
He said: "We were given to understand that the local party can meet here about 20 times a year. The advice we were given [by the Fees Office] was that we had to set a nominal charge and we invoice them for around £10 a time."
The Fees Office regulations, however, specify that only "occasional use" by organisations other than the MP is allowed. The rules also make clear that the charge paid by those organisations must be set at a "proportionate", rather than nominal, level.
The regulations say any money received from outside organisations should be paid back to the Commons and thus to the public purse. However, Ms Hodge's total office and staffing expense claim last year - £121,761 - was only £83 below the maximum limit, suggesting little or no money was received from outside.
Deducting staffing costs and the "communications allowance", Ms Hodge claimed a total of £24,767 for her office last year - the sixth highest claim by any London MP and in the top 10 per cent of all MPs.
For 2006 and 2007 she claimed about £43,000. She is also likely to have claimed between £20,000 and £25,000 this year, although exact figures are not yet available, making her total potential claim for the office in excess of £90,000.
There is no suggestion that Ms Hodge has personally profited from her claims. As a London MP she does not take part in the most controversial element of the expenses system, the second home allowance.
Mr Haywood said: "The fact that she's a high-spending MP on office costs and staffing is a good thing because it's a reflection of the work she's doing. We get a hundred new cases a week."
The Standard has learned Mr Haywood's partner, Georgina Jessiman, is a senior official in the Fees Office. But he said she had taken "no part" in his discussions with the Fees Office about what Ms Hodge could claim. News Source
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Former Labour Party deputy leader Baron Hattersley has made a withering attack on Hazel Blears as she fights to save her political career.
He says Ms Blears should be thrown out of the Cabinet after getting embroiled in the MPs expenses storm.
She is under fire for avoiding a capital gains tax bill of more than £13,000 on the sale of a flat in London.
The peer, formerly known as Roy and now a journalist, said it was time for the party to impose 'punishments' on MPs who avoided paying capital gains tax, adding that her behaviour was `inconsistent' with the values of the party.
He said she should never have risen to the heights of a Cabinet post.
But Ms Blears, born and raised in Brindle Heath, Salford, and proud of her working class roots, issued an equally scathing put down.
Her spokesman said: "Hazel will not be dignifying the comments of millionaire journalist Roy Hattersley with a response."
The spat between leading lights of Old Labour and New Labour is a reflection of how high feelings are running in Ms Blears' own constituency of Salford and Eccles.
Her team of constituency officials are rock-like in their support for her - but many senior 'old school' Labour Salford councillors are appalled at her behaviour.
Ms Blears, a feisty former Blair Babe saw her loyalty repaid with a rapid ascent from new MP in 1997 to junior health minister, home office minister with responsibility for policing and anti-terrorism, and chairman of the Labour party, before switching to Communities Secretary.
She even ran for the post of deputy leader of the party but came last out of five candidates.
Baron Hattersley said: "If it were me, Hazel Blears, having said that she went through a process of tax avoidance, wouldn't be in front of the star chamber she would be out of the Cabinet.
"It's inconsistent to be a member of the Labour Cabinet if you consciously try to avoid taxes."
Another retired former Labour MP said of Blears: " She could donate her skin to London Zoo for the next time they need a graft on a rhino. She will need to fear Martin Bell - or a celebrity candidate if they stand against her at the next General Election." News Source
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Fifty Labour MPs who want peerages to escape the expenses scandal were warned last night that they will be blocked from winning seats in the House of Lords.
Sources close to the House of Lords Appointments Commission said disgraced MPs would be found wanting when subjected to a 'probity test'.
Senior peers are expected to warn Gordon Brown that he should not seek to reward those who made excessive expenses claims because they will not be welcome in the Lords. .
Up to 52 Labour MPs, including select committee chairmen and middle ranking ministers, are reported to have sounded out Downing Street about the 'chicken run' to the upper house.
The Prime Minister has the power to appoint political peers to the Lords and many of those who are sick of the public scrutiny of their claims are ready to jump ship.
But last night a senior Labour backbencher and well-connected figures in the Lords warned that Mr Brown should not seek to give discredited MPs a lucrative ermine 'lifeboat'.
The House of Lords Appointments Commission is charged with vetting nominees to ensure they are 'in good standing in the community' and would 'enhance rather than diminish the workings and the reputation of the House of Lords'.
The Labour backbencher, who has close ties to the Appointments Commission, told the Daily Mail: 'In so far as people are going under a cloud because of what has happened with expenses, there is clearly a doubt about whether they will pass a propriety test. That's what will happen.'
Lord Oakeshott, the LibDem Treasury spokesman in the Lords, said: 'Tax dodging and allowance fiddling MPs must fail the Lord Appointments Commission's vetting for propriety.
'You can't clean up Parliament
by sweeping sleaze down the corridor.
'The House of Lords must be elected, not used as a comfy resettlement camp for redundant MPs.'
Those on the conveyor belt to the Lords were yesterday keeping quiet about their prospects.
But the senior Labour MPs that might want to take advantage of a move to the upper house might include Keith Vaz.
The chairman of the Home Affairs Committee claimed £69,000 buying and furnishing a flat in London just 12 miles from the million-pound mansion he shares with his wife.
Former chief whip Hilary Armstrong might be another contender after she claimed £3,100 towards the cost of repainting the gables and walls on her constituency home.
Former Education Secretary Ruth Kelly is already leaving and would be a contender for a peerage despite claiming more than £31,000 to redecorate and furnish her designated second home.
The Appointments Commission, chaired by the former Foreign Office mandarin Lord Jay, cannot block a selection by the Prime Minister but it can make a nomination untenable by naming and shaming those that fail the probity test.
Mr Brown will want to avoid a re-run of the 'cash for peerages' scandal which pitched the Appointments Commission against Downing Street during Tony Blair's tenure in No 10.
The Commission effectively scuppered the peerages of four Labour donors who Tony Blair had planned to ennoble when their loans and donations to the party were exposed.
The backlash against handing peerages to shamed MPs came as LibDem leader Nick Clegg also called for an end to the golden goodbye payments given to MPs who are quitting the Commons.
Those leaving at the next election will pocket up to £129,000 in salary and parachute payments by hanging on for another year.
Those that have stood down will cost taxpayers an extra £1.2million be refusing to leave now.
Mr Clegg said: ‘I can see no reason why an MP who is sacked or decides to stand down should be rewarded with a big, tax-free, lump sum payment.
‘This money is intended to help people who are suddenly voted out of office, not those who decide to call it a day after being caught with their fingers in the till.’ News Source
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Brown is preparing a “reshaping” of his administration after the expenses scandal and is considering bringing the Liberal Democrats closer to the centre of power.
The Prime Minister has been heavily criticised for his slow response to The Daily Telegraph’s investigation.
However, it has emerged that senior Cabinet allies are urging him to deliver a “game-changing” reshuffle in the aftermath of next week’s local and European elections.
One Cabinet minister said last night: “We have to be looking at reshaping the whole Government and not just a simple reshuffle of the Cabinet that rarely means anything to the wider public.”
The expenses scandal has brought constitutional reform back to the top of the political agenda. It is understood that a sizeable number of the Cabinet – possibly as many as half – favour a new voting system, with the single transferable vote form of proportional representation very popular.
Any move to involve the Liberal Democrats would be treated warily by some close advisers to Mr Brown, but he is being urged to think boldly to try to recapture the political initiative.
One radical idea would be to bring senior Liberal Democrat MPs into Government, the most obvious being Vince Cable. That would involve a series of deals behind the scenes involving Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader. Last night Labour sources suggested that any such deals were still a long way off.
Labour is expected to struggle badly in Thursday’s elections. A worse than expected result would add to pressure on Mr Brown’s leadership. Last autumn he surprised Westminster by bringing back Peter Mandelson in a reshuffle that helped shore up his position.
He is understood to be considering a similar “game-changing” move this weekend.
Mr Brown knows that he faces a traumatic period in the run-up to the summer recess if, as expected, Labour fares very poorly next week.
Some predict Labour could finish fourth behind the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and the UK Independence Party. A new poll puts Labour in third place on 16 per cent, behind the Tories on 30 per cent, and Ukip on 19 per cent.
A reshuffle is Mr Brown’s one chance to wrest back some authority. He is expected to move Hazel Blears, the Communities Secretary, and Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary. Both have faced questions over their expenses claims.
A source said: “It is not quite the last roll of the dice, but it’s not far off. We have told Gordon he needs a game-changing move if he is to have any chance in the months ahead.’’ News Source
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Tight fisted parasites even claimed for wreaths!
Labour, Liberal Democrat and SNP MSPs who claimed the cost of Remembrance Day wreaths on expenses are to pay the money back, their parties said yesterday.
Some 15 MSPs claimed back the wreath expenses.
One SNP MSP, Angela Constance, has already paid back the £17.80 she claimed after a wreath-laying ceremony in Livingston, and Labour MSP Rhona Brankin, who claimed £42.60, has done likewise.
Both said their claims were within the rules but were paying back the money as they did not wish to cause offence.
Four Labour MSPs – Ms Brankin, Helen Eadie, Trish Godman and Cathy Jamieson – and four Liberal Democrats – Ross Finnie, Jamie Stone, Robert Brown, and Jim Tolson – claimed for wreaths.
Seven SNP MSPs – Ms Constance, Alasdair Allan, Roseanna Cunningham, Michael Matheson, Stuart McMillan, Gil Paterson and John Wilson – are also thought to have claimed.
No Tories are thought to have claimed. News Source
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A Tory front bench MP sold her second home, making her a £1m profit - while avoiding a £180,00 capital gains tax bill by claiming it was her primary home.
Eleanor Laing, the shadow junior justice minister, sold her Westminster flats for £1.8m last year. The taxpayer had paid more than £80,000 towards mortgage interest and service charges on the home.
Her constituency - Epping Forest - is less than an hour's journey by tube.
The MP purchased a flat in 1993, for a figure believed by the Daily Telegraph to be in the region of £300,000. She brought a neighbouring flat in 2003 for £465,000 and converted them into one property.
She had also claimed the flats were her second home in regards to expenses, but when she sold the property she nominated the flats as her primary resident, meaning she avoided the £180,000 bill.
She then purchased another flat in the same block outright for £900,000.
Responding to the Daily Telegraph, she said: 'When I sold the flat I took advice from my solicitors on whether capital gains tax was due.
'I also consulted the HMRC publication which is issued to all MPs.
I realised, on investigating the rules, that it would be wrong ... to pay capital gains tax on the flat because, although I had always regarded the flat as my second home, my main home being in my constituency, the definition of principal private residence for tax purposes is not a matter of choice, but a matter of fact.
'Under HMRC rules, the flat was my principal private residence. I will, of course, be liable to pay tax when I eventually sell my house in Theydon Bois as, under HMRC rules, it is defined as my second home.'
While she would not confirm how much profit she made on the sale, she 'did not dispute' that it was at last £1m. News Source
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MPs who have used taxpayers’ money to pay for “phantom” mortgages on their expenses should be investigated by the police and prosecuted, David Cameron says in an interview with The Daily Telegraph.
The Conservative leader’s warning came as Elliot Morley — the former Labour minister exposed for claiming more than £16,000 for a mortgage he had already paid off — announced he was standing down as an MP.
Mr Morley said he had made the decision with “regret” and insisted that he had done nothing wrong.
But in the interview, Mr Cameron said that Scotland Yard detectives should investigate any suspect expense claims “without fear or favour”.
He admitted being “ashamed” at MPs’ behaviour.
The comments will increase pressure on the police to take swift action against MPs who have admitted serious errors – and potential fraud.
At least three other MPs – David Chaytor, Ben Chapman and former Conservative frontbencher Bill Wiggin – have also made phantom claims for interest on mortgages.
Lawyers believe that such claims may breach the 2007 Fraud Act and the 1968 Theft Act – and might therefore constitute criminal offences that could result in MPs being imprisoned. Continued
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A plague of hairy super caterpillars that can cause breathing problems, severe skin irritations and headaches is sparking health alerts across Britain.
Brown tail moth caterpillars each have up to two million brown hairs which can break off into the air and cause severe allergic reactions.
Previously only found on the south-east coast the insects have been swarming north over the last few years thanks to Britain's increasingly warm weather.
Thousands of the moths have invaded a housing estate near Trowbridge, Wiltshire, where worried residents and their children are coming out in itchy rashes.
Other sightings have been made throughout Essex, Sussex and Kent, with a family restaurant near Folkstone forced to close part of its car park over health fears.
Julie Payne, 35, who is 25-weeks pregnant and lives on the affected housing estate in Hilperton, Wilts., said yesterday that the caterpillars were 'everywhere'.
She said: 'Every time we went into the garden we found caterpillars everywhere. Then we noticed there were thousands of what looked like cobwebs in our cherry tree.
'We now know they are the moths' nests or tents. The children started coming out in spots and they couldn't stop scratching.
'Because I'm pregnant there are certain medications to help with the itching that I can't take.
'We had a tree surgeon who came out and cut out the tents and he couldn't believe what he saw - he said he hadn't seen anything like it in his life. It was a mass of caterpillars.'
Neighbour Tracey Jones added: 'My husband and my eight-year-old daughter look like they've been pricked with a pin.
'People need to know what's out there and the potential risks - this has the potential to put people in hospital.'
The caterpillars of the brown tail moth, which began hatching in late March, are covered in millions of hairs that can break off as barbs into the air.
Anyone who inhales or comes into contact with the tiny bristles can develop severe breathing problems, headaches, rashes and even conjunctivitis.
The caterpillars will continue to be a hazard for another four weeks until the pupation finishes when, as moths, they will pose no threat.
However, in the meantime councils across the country are warning people to avoid contact with the insects and asking asthmatics to carry their medication with them.
It is believed that our warm spring weather has aided the spread of the caterpillar, which have never been seen before in Wiltshire.
Graham Steady, Wiltshire Council's environmental protection manager, admitted they have 'no experience' of dealing with the insects.
He said: 'The moths are visitors from overseas that started coming into the country in the south east of England and have been spreading.
'We've not come across it at all in Wiltshire before and none of us here has any experience in dealing with it.
'We have taken a sample caterpillar from one of the families affected and have sent it off for analysis but we are pretty sure it is a brown tail moth caterpillar.'
The Health Protection Agency are warning anyone who comes into contact with the hairs to wash their hands and eyes, and use calamine lotion if they develop a rash. News Source
Sunday Roundup of the News this week
Don't want hear? Don't want to see? Don't want to speak out?
It's time time you did and loudly at the polling booth!
The UKIP party, still shocked at the revelations that Nigel Farage took more than £2 million in expenses, has been damned for producing six out of ten of the “worst MEPS in Britain” for transparency and accountability. The report, produced by independent think tank Open Europe, which campaigns for the reform of the European Union, says that six sitting UKIP MEPs, including Mr Farage, and one elected as a UKIP candidate, are bottom of the league in a ‘Transparency Initiative in the European Parliament.’
(Expose by Tony Shell on Green Arrow Blog) In the course of my research I’m not normally in the habit of putting original source material, or correspondence, into the public domain. However, given the serious issues being raised in this particular matter, I shall make an exception. As a result of the publication early this year of reports on the activities of a number of registered charities – including that of the organisation Searchlight Educational Trust – I wrote to the Metropolitan Police asking them if they would carry out an investigation.
Postal ballots in the Copeland Council, Cumbria North West European election region are being stored in easily opened cardboard boxes until counting day, reports Clive Jefferson, British National Party regional organiser. “The boxes being used are of extremely poor quality,” Mr Jefferson said. “This is extremely alarming because the council has steel boxes but they are deliberately not using them.”
Six convicted child rapists were not sent to jail in 2007, according to Ministry of Justice statistics. Two paedophiles were given suspended sentences for sex attacks on children under 13, while four other offenders were given community sentences. Shadow justice secretary Dominic Grieve said Labour was pressing judges not to jail offenders because of overcrowding.
A convicted paedophile has launched a taxpayer-funded legal action against police who arrested him because they feared a woman was in danger. Robin Frampton, 53, was staying with a woman he met through a television dating service after lying to her about who he was and keeping secret his sordid past, a court heard.
The recent series of articles in the so-called ‘free press’ which contain a barrage of easily-disproved lies against the British National Party is something which is almost unparalleled in British political history. Although the stories and lies are getting far too fantastic for any sane person to believe, the attempt to influence voters with a barrage of lies is of concern to anyone who holds the democratic process dear.
Two British servicemen who died within hours of each other after being wounded in separate incidents in southern Afghanistan have been named by the MoD. Tributes were paid to Lance Corporal Robert Richards, of the Royal Marine Armoured Support Group, and Lance Corporal Kieron Hill, of 2nd Battalion the Mercian Regiment.
MPs shamed into stepping down after milking the parliamentary expenses system are to cost taxpayers £150,000 each in salaries, pensions and allowances by staying in the Commons for another year. Since The Daily Telegraph began exposing their claims, 12 MPs have said they will step down amid public anger at their behaviour. Others are expected to follow in the weeks ahead.
As many as 200 MPs could be stepping down or losing their seats in the great expenses storm, experts predicted last night. Three more MPs announced yesterday that they would be quitting, making a total of 12 who are to step down before or at the next general election.
A Tory MP who claimed £15,000 in expenses for rent he paid to his daughter says he will not stand down despite David Cameron declaring his case 'very serious'. Grandee of the party Bill Cash billed the taxpayer for letting the luxury apartment despite owning a home nearer Westminster.
The Daily Mail, The Times and the Communist Party front organisation which feeds them their stories, have been exposed once again as shameless liars, desperate in their attempts to spread smears about the British National Party. The latest lie, published by both those newspapers this morning, claims that the “BNP is being investigated by the Electoral Commission” in connection with the attempt by the Sunday Times to entrap this party with a fake £5,000 ‘donation.’
Emptying the bins used to be a straightforward duty performed by our local councils. But thanks to Labour’s money-grabbing, ideological obsessives, it has been turned into a mix of voodoo cult and extortion racket.On pain of brutal fines, householders are now forced to go through frequent rituals in sorting out their waste while an army of municipal zealots strut around checking that everyone is following their arbitrary rules.
The British National Party is on record as being the only party to identify the real cause of terrorism in modern Britain, namely the importation of a large Third World immigrant population from which the Islamists can recruit, and a foreign policy which inflames the entire Muslim world against Britain. These two policies - implemented by successive Tory and Labour regimes - have come home to roost in the hundreds of terrorism arrests in Britain over the last few years, and the terrorist attacks in London and Glasgow.
The French government's decision not to invite the Queen to next week's commemorations of the 65th anniversary of D-Day was an unbelievable insult to her. It will also appall and sadden the surviving British veterans of one of the most momentous days in British and world history.
There has never been anything like it. The political class is disgraced. Public fury is unassuaged. Revolution is in the air. Yet our MPs are still obdurately behaving true to discredited form. Some are taking refuge in self-pity, claiming they are being driven to the edge of nervous breakdowns or even contemplating suicide.
Britain’s new paperwork system for allowing temporary entry for visitors is a major security concern, claims an immigration officer who has spent 17 years checking visas at Heathrow. Mike Whiting – a retired chief immigration officer with 38 years’ experience at the UK Immigration Service – turned whistleblower yesterday, alleging cost-cutting within the new UK Border Force means the loss of vital face-to-face interviews with visa applicants, resulting in an “open door” immigration policy.
MPs 'regularly' fail to pay tax on the accountancy bills they claim from the taxpayer, sources at the Inland Revenue have revealed. The admission is the first proof that they have tried to pocket financial perks denied to the rest of us. Officials at HM Revenue and Customs told the Mail that they have repeatedly caught out MPs who have got taxpayers to fund the cost of accountancy advice for filling in their tax returns.
Ruth Ducker always legally parks her Volkswagen Golf around the corner from her house, so it came as a shock when she discovered it had disappeared from its spot - and in its place was double yellow lines. Her confusion deepened when Lambeth council claimed to have no knowledge of where her car was. It took three weeks for the council to admit its contractors were behind the disappearance, and then add insult to injury by telling the 44-year-old graphic designer she owed more than £800 in fines.
During his Budget speech, the Chancellor of the Exchequer declared: 'It cannot be fair that those who should pay tax are allowed to avoid it.' Accordingly, he announced a major crackdown on tax evasion, including an internet site on which the details of 'deliberate tax defaulters' would be published.
The horror at the dark heart of a sordid, arrogant parliament Here we are, a few words about Brussels and how it feels about child abuse. I’ll move onto the elections for the European parliament in a moment, but given the horrors of the Ryan report last week, I thought that you ought to know how seriously the euro-elite treat any suggestion of improper behaviour by adults towards children.
Between 1991 and 2007, more than 2.1 million migrants were added to the population of England, which last year became the most crowded major country in Europe. The nation has taken more than 20 times more migrants than Scotland, even though it is only ten times the size in terms of population. The study, by the Cross Party Group on Balance Migration, warns the population of England is likely to increase by a further ten million over the next two decades, of which seven million will be migrants.
More than nine out of every ten migrants entering Britain over the past two decades have settled in England, according to figures released to MPs. The total is 20 times more than the number who have gone to live in Scotland. The level of net migration - the number of those settling in the UK minus those leaving - amounted to 2,149,000 for England for the years between 1991 and 2007, the Office for National Statistics said. This equates to 92 per cent of all UK immigrants.
Three sons of jailed cleric Abu Hamza are due to be sentenced for a £1 million luxury car scam. They and others targeted Mercedes, BMWs and Range Rovers and other expensive makes in long-stay car parks. Hamza's sons Hamza Kamel, 22, and Mohamed Mostafa, 27, helped run the two-year fraud with stepson Mohssin Ghailam, 28.
A teenager was left to die in a blazing car after her boyfriend told emergency services there was no-one inside. Twice Waqas Arshad, 24, was asked if anyone was inside the vehicle which had crashed into a tree before coming to rest in a field. On both occasions he said there was not. It was only as firefighters tackled the blaze that they realised 17-year-old Emily Brady was in the car still strapped into the passenger seat.
British National Party leader Nick Griffin has bowed out of attending a Buckingham Palace garden party, saying he had "no wish to embarrass the Queen". The right-wing politician had been invited to the event by BNP colleague Richard Barnbrook who, as a London Assembly member, was nominated for two tickets by the Greater London Authority.
The controlled media continues to hush up the fact that it was the British National Party’s very own sleazebuster, Michael Barnbrook, who initiated the entire review of MPs’ expenses. Mr Barnbrook, a former Metropolitan police inspector, who is also the BNP’s spokesman on police matters, was the one who first raised the matter with a written complaint to Mr John Lyon, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, against Tory MP Derek Conway.
Police say they have seized a deactivated Kalashnikov rifle, imitation handguns, knives and a number of devices "made from fireworks" as part of a terrorism investigation. Two men aged 25 and 19, a 16-year-old schoolboy and a 20-year-old woman were this morning still being held at Launceston police station under the Terrorism Act.
When the going gets tough, the tough get going. But not Diddy David Cameron, when the going gets tough he cracks like an egg sat on by John Prescott. Admitting that many people were angry at the main parties over their theft of our money he urged them to keep on voting for more of the same by not voting for the patriotic British National Party. Does he think we are as stupid at the morons who authorised his expenses?
A senior judge has warned of a rise in vigilante crimes caused by slow police response times. Richard Bray said citizens were increasingly taking matters into their own hands because of lack of confidence in the forces of law and order. He was speaking as he sentenced a father and his sons for attacking a man they thought had vandalised their car.
The number of checks on sex offenders living in the community has been drastically cut. High-risk offenders, including dangerous paedophiles, now only have to be visited at home four times a year instead of 12. In 2007, guidance was issued that high-risk offenders were to be checked at least 12 times a year, medium risk at least four times and low risk once or twice.
A London Underground cleaner who kissed a frightened teenager after posing as a ticket inspector avoided jail today. Muhammad Bashir, 34, was ordered to carry out 175 hours of unpaid work in the community and told he would have to remain on the sex offenders register for five years. He accosted a 17-year-old from Edinburgh in February last year, accused her of wrongly having a child's ticket and ordered her to follow him, Southwark Crown Court heard.
The West Midlands police have officially launched an anti-white recruitment drive, designed specifically to favour non-white applicants over whites, it has been revealed. The force, Britain’s second largest, has pledged to increase the proportion of new recruits from “black or minority ethnic” (BME) groups to twelve percent.
The amount of taxpayer money set aside each year for MPs' expenses has risen 60 per cent in seven years and now stands at more than £100million. The cost of second homes, travel, staff, office equipment and other claims rose from £57.5million in 2001/02 to £92.9million in 2007/08 - a £35.4million increase.
California's top court last night backed the will of the people and banned gay marriage. The ruling, upholding the result of a state-wide referendum, came as a major blow to the state's reputation as a liberal trendsetter. Supreme Court judges decided by a six-to-one majority to endorse the result of November's vote in favour of a law defining marriage as being only 'between a man and a woman'.
South West Tory MEP Caroline Jackson reportedly paid her husband £22,500 to help with writing a 15-page pamphlet on waste management. Mrs Jackson, who is standing down from the European Parliament, made the payment as "consultancy fees", according to the Sun newspaper. The pamphlet's 15 pages included the cover, a blank page, an introduction page of just two sentences and a final page containing only her contact details, said the paper.
As a civil servant working for a central government for 26 years, I work in a department that specialises in the retention of committed offenders. We are constantly being scrutinised by internal audit to make efficiency savings on projects and any travelling expenses we incur are claimed within strict rules of the civil service and countersigned by senior managers. In fact, the bureaucracy attached to claiming is such that minor expenses are not worth claiming and so many of us work on official business at our expense.
Sometimes it seems that if the British National Party (BNP) did not exist, the political class might have to invent it. Reactions to the expenses scandal have exposed mainstream politics at its lowest ebb. A New Labour government many thought had already reached rock bottom has got out its pickaxe and started digging down through the rock to unexplored depths.
A growing army of private security guards and town hall snoopers with sweeping police-style powers is being quietly established, the Daily Mail can reveal. Under a Home Office-run scheme, people such as park wardens, dog wardens, car park attendants and shopping centre guards receive the powers if they undergo training, and pay a small fee to their local police force.
A scheme that gives civilians police-style powers for a small fee has been labelled “a con” by critics. Under a Home Office-run scheme, people such as park wardens, dog wardens, car park attendants and shopping centre guards receive the powers if they undergo training and pay a fee to their local police force. It means they can issue penalty fines for a wide range of offences including £60 charges for truancy and dropping litter, and being able to demand a person's name and address on the street.
In what must be one of the most pathetic self-effacing embarrassments in British political history, Conservative Party leader David Cameron has begged members of the public - even if they are not Tory members - to come forward and stand as candidates for his party following its utter disgrace in the expenses scandal.
The controlled media’s reaction to the British National Party’s election campaign has been to avoid discussing any policy issues - which are the heart of voters’ concerns - but to focus instead on irrelevant issues such as modelled photographs or decades’ old comments which have noting to do with the BNP of 2009, party leader Nick Griffin has said.
Three in four criminals found with a gun escape prison even though the number caught has almost doubled in four years. Despite Government promises to take action against the growing problem of gun crime in Britain, penalties are getting softer with custody rates falling and more and more criminals walking away from court. The figures make a mockery of the mandatory jail terms judges are supposed to impose on armed offenders.
Four nurses have been jailed this month for falsely claiming student bursaries and then illegally working in the UK. A registered learning disabilities nurse, Dzikamai Mhakayakora, was jailed for nine months and Definate Mukwe was jailed for a year. Both nurses had started training in 2003 at Thames Valley University using false documentation.
The British National Party’s national call centre has received just under 12,000 calls in the first fifteen minutes following this evening’s first national television broadcast, reports party administration consultant Jim Dowson. Talking to BNP News following the highly successful broadcasts, Mr Dowson said the sheer volume of calls meant that it was impossible for the call centre to take each and every one.
Greedy Euro MPs rake in up to £363,250 A YEAR in expenses — without producing a single receipt, a Sun investigation can reveal. The taxpayers’ cash they pocket dwarfs the amounts claimed by Westminster MPs, whose milking of the system sparked outrage. During the five-year term of a Brussels parliament, an MEP can clock-up an eye-watering £1,816,250 in expenses. They even get free mudbaths.
Once again, the Archbishop of Canterbury has demonstrated how ill-equipped he is to provide the nation with moral leadership. His gift for striking the wrong note is uncanny. This is the man who expresses his support for the introduction of sharia law in Britain, tells us that terrorists “can have serious moral goals” and fails to defend christianity against the onslaught of Marxist ideologues across the public sector.
London's MPs are frantically dumping second homes as their expenses bill of almost £10 million a year comes under the spotlight. Commons officials have been deluged with requests from members who want to cut their claims in a bid to appease outraged voters before the next general election.
Six members of the shadow cabinet have used their office expenses to pay more than £150,000 to the Conservative Party over the last five years. Alan Duncan, the shadow leader of the House of Commons, paid £42,000 to the Rutland and Melton Conservative Association, while Michael Gove, shadow children’s secretary, paid £27,000 to Surrey Heath Conservative Association.
Cabinet Ministers yesterday defended claiming money from the taxpayer for items ranging from fridge magnets to luxury cameras and phones. Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell charged £247 for 3,000 “flexible fridge magnets’’ and £42 for books from internet seller Amazon, including one on “Modern Conservatism’’ by Tory frontbencher David Willetts.
Struggling home owners may soon be forced to pay to have their bins emptied – on top of soaring council tax bills. Supporters of the bin tax say it would encourage people to recycle more waste and help to protect the environment. But campaigners claim it would be the thin end of the wedge, with councils adopting the policy as a way of raising millions in extra revenue by back-door methods.
Britain's top ‘quangocrats’ are making £3million a year by holding more than one Government post. The bosses of 40 quangos are ‘ double-hatting’ – accepting at least two berths on costly, unaccountable ‘arm’s-length’ Government agencies.
A former Conservative Party high-flyer is facing claims of sexual discrimination after he allegedly became angry when his staff fell pregnant. An employment tribunal heard today that Ross Coates, 55, told a colleague that 'all women should be sterilised'.
There are several varieties of crook. Some we glamorise. Butch and Sundance (Newman and Redford). Robin Hood (Errol Flynn et al). Bonnie and Clyde (Dunaway and Beatty). Bugsy Siegel (Beatty again). Various Mafiosi (Brando). Some we revile. Bernie Madoff, drug dealers.
British National Party leader Nick Griffin has told senior Church of England bishops to 'grow up' after they urged voters not to vote for the party as a way of expressing disgust over the MPs' expenses scandal. In a joint statement yesterday, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, Rowan Williams and John Sentamu, said it was understandable for voters to be disillusioned with politicians. But Mr Griffin responded angrily to their statement, telling the BBC: 'It's amazing, isn't it?
The Archbishop of Canterbury called for an end to the 'systematic humiliation' of MPs over the expenses scandal. Dr Rowan Williams says such intense scrutiny of politicians' spending habits could threaten our democracy. He admits the issues surrounding the row are grave and the continuing systematic humiliation of politicians itself threatens to carry a heavy price in terms of our ability to salvage some confidences in our democracy.
Abuse was 'endemic' in childrens' institutions
Safety of children in general was not a consideration
216 church and state institutions involved
More than 800 individuals identified as abusers
No abusers will be prosecuted
Children 'corrupted' by sexual activity were punished
The £6.2m bill: Scandal of how MPs are taking taxpayers for a ride with extortionate travel expenses
The extraordinary sums of taxpayers' money claimed by MPs for travel can today be revealed by the Daily Mail. Politicians are milking their transport allowances by claiming largely unverified mileage which would take some of them around the world. They received £1.9million in petrol money alone in 2007-08, as well as £2.2million on train tickets and nearly £900,000 on air fares.
More than 700,000 householders in England and Wales face being overcharged for council tax, it was claimed yesterday. Tories accused the Government of trying to cover up the threat. Leaked minutes last year revealed concern that the Exchequer would lose money and have to pay refunds if known errors were revealed.
(Superb diagnosis by Sarah Maid of Albion at Green Arrow blog) I see that a certain Dr Nick McKerrell, a “lecturer in human rights law” at Glasgow Caledonian University and (surprise, surprise) an SSP European elections candidate, is threatening to report BBC Scotland to the police for holding a phone in on the BNP.
The recent attack on the BNP website is evidence of a worrying trend. On thursday the website of an bill board company hosting BNP advertisments was attacked by DOS attempts from hijacked computers. The source of this attack was allegedly traced back to a server linked to Bluestate Digital and Searchlight, both of whom are now under investigation for a variety of interesting criminal offences.
The British National Party is outperforming the major parties online, according to a new analysis of the far-right strategy in the run up to next month's European elections. Fresh evidence suggests that the BNP is outdoing Labour and the Conservatives in luring visitors to its website, where it outlines policies such as halting immigration, the reintroduction of corporal punishment and the return of the death penalty.
For most of us, the late May Bank Holiday is a chance to sit back, relax and enjoy the early summer sun. But this weekend, in the picturesque Gloucestershire village of Newent, one group has been spectacularly hard at work. Travellers have turned a beautiful meadow into a vast encampment, complete with sewerage, toilets and electricity. The 50-strong work gang arrived at 5pm on Friday - the exact moment that the local council offices shut for the long weekend.
BBC Scotland is expected to be reported to the police today after staging an hour-long phone-in on the British National Party. Dr Nick McKerrell, a lecturer in human rights law at Glasgow Caledonian University and SSP European elections candidate, believes last Thursday's phone-in gave the BNP a platform for its racist views.
The personal medical records of tens of thousands of people have been lost by the NHS in a series of data security leaks, the Department of Health confirmed today. A total of 140 security breaches were reported within the NHS between January and April this year.
Civil servants are compiling dossiers on opponents of Heathrow Airport expansion and handing them over to police, it emerged yesterday. Communications staff at the Department for Transport are gathering data on legitimate objectors to the £9billion third runway and offering the information to Scotland Yard.
While Cabinet ministers have been allowed to claim taxpayers’ money for the cost of accountancy advice, hardly anyone outside the Palace of Westminster is able to recoup the costs of minimising their tax bill. The tax system is now so complicated that many people employ accountants to help them fill in their annual self-assessment forms. HM Revenue & Customs has tried to help by bringing in a shortened version of the annual tax return.
Three Cabinet ministers are facing questions over party funding after it emerged that they paid tens of thousands of pounds in rent to the Labour Party over the past four years. Office expenses claims show that Hilary Benn, the Environment Secretary, paid more than £30,000 in rent to Labour for letting office space from his local constituency party between 2005/06 and 2007/08.
Home secretary Jacqui Smith was further embroiled in the MPs' expenses scandal last night after it emerged she claimed a £240 iPhone for her husband. Miss Smith bought the phone for her husband Richard Tinmeny, who manages her Redditch constituency office.
A nurse has been sacked after suggesting a 'patient' could go to church to relieve stress during a role play session on a training course. Anand Rao, 71, a committed Christian, was taking part in an exercise to see if he would advise a wife with a serious heart condition about how to reduce stress.
A proposal to brand the buttocks of people suffering from HIV has caused outrage in a country ravaged by the disease. Swaziland MP Timothy Myeni suggested making HIV tests compulsory for every person in the southern African state and then forcing those who were infected to be permanently marked with a warning logo.
The leader of the UK Independence party (Ukip), which wants to lead Britain out of the EU, has taken £2m of taxpayers' money in expenses and allowances as a member of the European Parliament, on top of his £64,000 a year salary. Nigel Farage, who is calling on voters to punish "greedy Labour, Conservative and Lib Dem MPs" at the European elections on 4 June, boasted of his personal expenses haul at a meeting with foreign journalists in London last week. The admission threatens to flatten a bounce in the polls for Ukip as angry voters flock to other parties regarded as untainted by the Westminster expenses scandal.
Shamed outgoing MPs will pocket £10million from taxpayers in “golden goodbyes”. About 100 MPs giving up their seats at the next election because of their expenses abuses will each receive severance payments of up to £105,000. Critics have branded the spectacular payoffs as “outrageous.” Susie Squire of the TaxPayers’ Alliance said: “Losing your job is part and parcel of being an MP.
Full details of how MPs and their families have taken advantage of the taxpayer-funded expenses system are disclosed for the first time today. An investigation by The Sunday Telegraph has established that many of the MPs – more than 200 in total – who employ relatives have been able to claim extra expenses as a result of the arrangement.
Security experts have warned that extremists training in Bangladesh could pose a major threat to Britain, adding that the south-Asian country has become a "safe haven" for terrorists. Rising numbers of British-born fundamentalists are travelling to Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan) for jihadist training, prompting the Bangladeshi government to launch a database to monitor the movements of suspected terrorists.
On Friday two undercover News of the World reporters were given access to Her Majesty's fleet of limos inside the palace grounds by the prostitute's boyfriend - grasping royal chauffeur Brian Sirjusingh. He has now been suspended pending an investigation by palace officials. The driver BETRAYED his Queen for just £1,000 as he sneaked our men-both Asian-past security without even searching them. Then he encouraged them to look around and even SIT INSIDE the cars used by the royal family.
The Lithuanian hooker at the heart of the shocking royal security risk exposed by the News of the World chillingly reveals she is NEVER stopped by Buckingham Palace security guards. Instead 21-year-old Victoria Voronova is allowed to stroll in and out of the palace grounds as she pleases between romps with her royal chauffeur lover Brian Sirjusingh.
Two MPs have this week defended their expenses after revelations of claims including almost £250 for an alarm clock, almost £1100 for a television and £4000 for second hand furniture. Michael Connarty, MP for Linlithgow and Falkirk East, and Jim Devine, Livingston’s MP, have both come under fire after details of their claims were made public.
A disgruntled taxpayer yesterday launched a legal bid to bring Home Secretary Jacqui Smith before the courts over allegations of fraud. Anthony Weaver appeared before a district judge in Ms Smith’s constituency of Redditch, Worcestershire, to apply for a court summons to allow him to begin a private prosecution against her.
Normally, when any of us are given perks in lieu of salary, the taxman insists we should pay tax on them. Not so, in the case of MPs Last week I explained that, in the squalid furore over MPs' allowances, a crucial point was being missed. The reason why all our MPs had been expecting us to pay for their duck houses, moat-clearing, third homes and the rest was that ever since 1971 they have been told to regard their "additional costs allowance" as part of their salary.
Prison officers angry at “broken promises” over privatisation plans will attempt to oust Labour MPs in marginal seats. The Prison Officers Association (POA) is asking its members to vote against the party at the next general election, which could spell disaster for several politicians in Kent.
A new Sunday Telegraph article reveals how Britain's lawmakers maneuvered around laws to claim more expenses, as parliament drowns in scandal. The newspaper said some 200 members of parliament had claimed money for an addition residence, usually by employing spouses or family members to work there “on parliamentary business.”
Jacqui Smith stood accused of trying to bypass Parliament last night as it emerged MPs will be denied a vote on plans for police to store innocent people's DNA profiles for up to 12 years. Ministers were forced to reform the crime-fighting DNA database after the European Court of Human Rights last year outlawed the current rules under which anyone arrested for any crime has their genetic profile stored indefinitely - even if they are innocent and never charged.
Britain’s second largest police force has been accused of discriminating against white men by setting itself targets to recruit and promote more black and female officers. West Midlands police chiefs have pledged to increase the proportion of new recruits from “black or minority ethnic” groups to 12 per cent and women to 42 per cent. Under the new arrangements, agreed yesterday by the local police authority, the targets will grow by two per cent every year until 2012.
Labour MP Khalid Mahmood is the latest to be sucked into the expenses scandal. He stayed at a five-star hotel in London with his girlfriend and charged hundreds of pounds to the taxpayer as his second home allowance. Mahmood, who is the MP for Birmingham Perry Barr, claimed a total of £1,350 for nine nights stay over a four-week period in 2004, when he stayed at The Bentley hotel in Kensington. He also claimed £1,225 for five nights stay in 2008.
Cameron yesterday slapped down the second Tory MP caught moaning about the furious public reaction to revelations that Commons expenses were used to pay for everything from moat-cleaning to a Jacuzzi. A senior Tory source branded Nadine Dorries “completely wacky” after she claimed MPs were on the brink of suicide. Claiming there was a “witch-hunt”, she added: “I think people are seriously beginning to crack. The last day of parliament this week was completely unbearable.
The British National Party have just published a superb report on the involvement of all the major parties and their support for the political terrorist organisations of Searchlight and the UAF that were revealed for all to see in the images taken in Bath on friday. Now I first read about the plans of the communists to attack and prevent a debate about the European Elections taking place in Bath on Wednesday the 20th of May. An attempt that failed. They of course, being completely removed from reality have reported a stunning victory. I put it down to the drugs they take which obviously affects their counting ability also (video also). The UAF operating under the banner of the Bath Activist Network(BAN) were shooting their mouths of with:
Voters left sickened by the MPs’ expenses scandal are demanding an immediate election in ever bigger numbers, it emerged last night. A poll revealed that 73 per cent now want Gordon Brown to admit the House of Commons and his Government had lost the faith of the British people.
A minister uses taxpayers’ cash to provide a home for the boss of a leading charity, it emerged last night. Northern Ireland Minister Paul Goggins allows Chris Bain, who is director of Catholic aid group Caffod, to live rent-free at his London house, which funded by Westminster expenses.
Tax chiefs are to probe ALL 646 MPs’ finances following the expenses scandal — including those of Gordon Brown and Tory leader David Cameron. The PM is said to have given the go-ahead for the inquiry after talks with HM Revenue and Customs chiefs. Up to 20 tax inspectors will carry out the probe.
Britain's top ‘quangocrats’ are making £3million a year by holding more than one Government post. The bosses of 40 quangos are ‘ double-hatting’ – accepting at least two berths on costly, unaccountable ‘arm’s-length’ Government agencies. The information, uncovered by the Liberal Democrats, raises fresh questions about the ‘jobs for the boys’ culture on public advisory and monitoring bodies.
Royal Navy warships have forced heavily armed Spanish ships to retreat from British waters around Gibraltar. Relations between the 30,000 residents of the British outpost and mainland Spain have become strained following what the Foreign Office described as 'a violation of British sovereignty'. The warships were dispatched after Spanish ships sent boarding parties to inspect fishing boats in British waters, despite having no authority to do so.
Saturday 30th May 2009
The UKIP party, still shocked at the revelations that Nigel Farage took more than £2 million in expenses, has been damned for producing six out of ten of the “worst MEPS in Britain” for transparency and accountability.
The report, produced by independent think tank Open Europe, which campaigns for the reform of the European Union, says that six sitting UKIP MEPs, including Mr Farage, and one elected as a UKIP candidate, are bottom of the league in a ‘Transparency Initiative in the European Parliament.’
According to the Open Europe survey, the top ten worst UK MEPs, along with their scores on the survey, are listed below. (Note: the lower the points, the less accountable and transparent the MEP.)
- 1. David Sumberg, Tory, 10 points;
- 2. John Whittaker, UKIP, 11 points;
- 3. Robert Kilroy-Silk, Independent (elected as UKIP), 11 points;
- 4. Trevor Colman, UKIP, 13 points;
- 5. Jonathan Evans, Tory, 14 points;
- 6. Godfrey Bloom, UKIP, 19 points;
- 7. Giles Chichester, Tory, 19 points;
- 8. Nirj Deva, Tory, 21 points;
- 9. Roger Knapman, UKIP, 22 points; and
- 10. Nigel Farage, UKIP, 23 points.
Amongst other criteria, Open Europe ranked the MEPs according to whether they voted for easier public access to EU documents; voted against keeping MEPs’ expenses and accounts secret; voted to increase transparency, including better public access to MEPs’ voting records; voted in favour of imposing sanctions for MEPs guilty of financial irregularities; voted in favour of providing mandatory receipts for travel expenses; achieved good attendance at the Parliament’s voting sessions; and who voted to reform the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and discontinue subsidies to tobacco farmers.
They were also evaluated on which ones voted not to clear the European Parliament’s accounts for 2006 due to 75 percent unaccounted for expenditure on MEPs’ assistants’ allowances.
“While MPs in the UK have come under attack recently for how they spend their allowances, MEPs in Brussels have avoided such criticism by voting to keep information about their expenses secret,” said Open Europe in a press release.
“In March 2009, almost 70 percent of all MEPs voted to keep expenses claims and accounts or financial disciplinary measures, such as demands for MEPs to pay money back, secret from public requests,” the body said.
“Although a 2008 report revealed several instances of outright fraud involving MEPs’ expenses, no penalties or sanctions have ever been imposed. For example, former Conservative MEP Den Dover has been asked by the Parliament to pay back over £500,000 in ‘unjustified’ allowances, but no deductions have been made from Mr Dover’s wages in an effort to regain the funds. Extraordinarily, in 2005, 340 of all MEPs voted against introducing sanctions, including suspension, for any member guilty of gross financial irregularities.”
* Separately, Open Europe has also revealed that MEPs are spending millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money on foreign trips to destinations such as Bali, St Lucia, the Seychelles, Australia and Barbados.
MEPs’ foreign trips have cost the taxpayer £3.1 million since 2004 — and in that time MEPs have clocked up over ten million personal air miles. This is equivalent to flying to the moon and back 20 times.
“Many of the trips were of questionable value,” continued Open Europe’s press release. “For example, one delegation of MEPs is sent to Australia every two years for over a week.
Activities on the last trip included going to listen to La Traviata at Sydney Opera House, a sunset cruise around Sydney harbour aboard luxury catamaran MV Olympic Spirit, a trip to Ayers Rock to ‘discuss the situation of the indigenous community of Australia’, and a day spent visiting three different vineyards before returning to a five star resort hotel to relax on the beach and enjoy dinner in the hotel’s award-winning restaurant.”
* In a related development, Mr Farage has now confessed that he is unable to prove how he had spent his own expenses and allowances. When confronted by a newspaper, Mr Farage said he did not have the receipts or any paper to prove where the £2 million he had claimed had gone.
That is, as an observer remarked, highly convenient to say the least.
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(Expose by Tony Shell on Green Arrow Blog)
In the course of my research I’m not normally in the habit of putting original source material, or correspondence, into the public domain. However, given the serious issues being raised in this particular matter, I shall make an exception.
As a result of the publication early this year of reports on the activities of a number of registered charities – including that of the organisation Searchlight Educational Trust – I wrote to the Metropolitan Police asking them if they would carry out an investigation.
This request was sent to the police on the 5th February. I eventually received a letter from the Met after seven weeks of waiting (on the 25th March). A copy of the police response is shown below.
I’ll leave it to the reader to draw their own conclusions as to the adequacy of the response, however there are a couple of points worth highlighting, which are summarised below.
Firstly, the notion that “no credibility” can be given to a complaint if the evidence (material) is accessible to the public is, to put it bluntly, pure nonsense.
The assumption that the Charity Commission, or “the media”, can be trusted to expose any possible wrongdoing is (in my opinion) an extraordinary statement for the police to make.
Secondly, the assertion that: “it is the overall upkeep of the Charity for which donations are made” is simply not true. The public donate to a charity, trusting that the money will be used for the purpose being promoted (advertised) by the particular charity.
Yes, it is certainly the case that long-established charities may become (by name and by reputation) synonymous with a particular charitable purpose – but that is an entirely different matter.
I feel that the concerns are fundamentally very simple, and that the situation can be as summarised as highlighted below.
The registered charity Philip Green Memorial Trust (PGMT) solicits money from the public to “help sick and disabled children”. Clearly from the PGMT advertising, this refers to very worthy activities such as hospital and hospice care, medication, remedial care, respite care, physiotherapy – and so on. People who donate to the PGMT do so believing and trusting that this is the purpose to which their donations will be put.
Over the last six years it appears that the organisation Searchlight Educational Trust (SET) has drawn on this PGMT funding to the total amount of some £11,700.
Therefore the obvious question to be asked is this: how this money has been used by SET on providing help for sick and disabled children?
It would be entirely reasonable to have a list of recipients of the help provided by SET – for example Searchlight’s help in providing: hospital and hospice care; medication; remedial care; respite care; physiotherapy, et cetera. I am sure SET would, as a registered charity, have this information readily to hand.
Six weeks ago there occurred a disturbing development when the secretary of Searchlight Educational Trust posted a personal attack on me, on one of Searchlight’s political websites.
This occurred almost immediately following my last communications with the Charity Commission and the Metropolitan Police.
I found the content of this attack to be extremely abusive and insulting and, given the content of the Searchlight posting in the context of recent events, somewhat menacing.
This behaviour was quite astonishing coming, as it did, from an official of a registered ‘charitable’ organisation.
Finally I should make it absolutely clear that I have no complaint against individual police officers who have an immensely difficult job to do, under very difficult circumstances. The problem is, as I perceive it to be, that of a police service that has become institutionally politicized. Copies of this article will be forwarded to the Metropolitan Police Service. News Source
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Postal ballots in the Copeland Council, Cumbria North West European election region are being stored in easily opened cardboard boxes until counting day, reports Clive Jefferson, British National Party regional organiser.
“The boxes being used are of extremely poor quality,” Mr Jefferson said.
“This is extremely alarming because the council has steel boxes but they are deliberately not using them.”
Mr Jefferson pointed out that Copeland council have never before used anything else but the steel boxes. “All of a sudden, because our support has grown in the region, we are confronted with cardboard boxes in which the postal and other votes are going to be stored until they are counted,” he said.
The BNP polled 40 percent of the vote in the Kells by-election in December, Mr Jefferson said.
“Why is it that as our support rises to an all-time high, the council sees fit to stop using steel ballot boxes and switch to poor quality cardboard ones which could easily be tampered with?”
“This is an outrage and an invitation for electoral fraud,” he said. “I have made the strongest possible complaints to the returning officer in Copeland Council and to the North West returning officer. It appears that despite my best efforts, the security of the English ballot has been reduced to a pile of flat pack cardboard boxes.”
Mr Jefferson appealed for all those concerned about a free and fair election to telephone or email Copeland and Manchester Council, and politely voice their concerns over this matter.
“A polite email or call to the Whitehaven News to firmly express your outrage about this disgraceful situation would also be appreciated,” Mr Jefferson said.
Copeland Borough Council can be emailed at info@copeland.gov.uk
or called on 0845 054 8600.
Manchester Council can be emailed at city.council@manchester.gov.uk
or called on 0161 234 5000
The Whitehaven News can be emailed at news@whitehaven-news.co.uk
or called on 01946 595100
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Now compare the above to the video here
Postal ballots in the Copeland Council, Cumbria North West European election region are being stored in easily opened cardboard boxes until counting day, reports Clive Jefferson, British National Party regional organiser.
“The boxes being used are of extremely poor quality,” Mr Jefferson said. “This is extremely alarming because the council has steel boxes but they are deliberately not using them.”
Mr Jefferson pointed out that Copeland council have never before used anything else but the steel boxes. “All of a sudden, because our support has grown in the region, we are confronted with cardboard boxes in which the postal and other votes are going to be stored until they are counted,” he said.
The BNP polled 40 percent of the vote in the Kells by-election in December, Mr Jefferson said. “Why is it that as our support rises to an all-time high, the council sees fit to stop using steel ballot boxes and switch to poor quality cardboard ones which could easily be tampered with?”