Archive 25
UkTabloid
The People's News Portal
Sunday 14th March 2010
Tens of thousands of children are being taught in temporary huts or overcrowded classrooms after primary school admissions leapt by almost a quarter.
Schools are coping with their biggest influx of pupils for 13 years in some areas following an immigrant baby boom and recession-fuelled exodus from private schools, a Daily Mail survey has shown.
Applications for primary schools places have soared 23 per cent since 2008 in some areas, and pressure on places is set to intensify every year at least until 2018.
As a result, many families face travelling long distances to schools with spare places. Some pupils may be taught temporarily in church halls or community centres.
A total of 669,601 babies were born in England and Wales in 2006 - up from 645,805 in 2005 - and most are due to start school this year. The birth rate has continued to climb, with 708,711 babies born in 2008, the most since 1972.
Population projections suggest that London alone will need an extra 51,000 primary school places in the next seven years.
Statisticians put the trend down to the rising population of foreign-born women of childbearing age and increasing fertility rates, possibly linked to maternity leave and tax credit policies.
Yet more than 1,000 primary schools have closed since 1999 amid accusations that some areas have taken a short term view of likely demand.
Our survey of local authorities suggests that more than half are seeing a rise in the number of applicants for primary schools this year.
Newham, in East London, has seen a 22.8 per cent increase in applicants in two years. It is providing extra places in existing schools by building extensions and using mobile classrooms.
Leeds has seen the number of children seeking places rise from 7,188 in 2008 to 8,057 this year.
The city is permanently expanding seven primaries from September and will make use of modular classrooms.
Our survey also uncovered tentative evidence that fewer youngsters starting school in September are being offered their first choice primary. The trend is likely to prompt a surge in the number of parents hiring lawyers at a cost of up to £2,500 to appeal against their allocation.
A sluggish housing market has compounded the crisis because parents are effectively trapped in areas with school place shortages.
Surrey is among areas already reporting slightly fewer families being allocated their top preference, from 84 per cent in 2009 to 83 per cent this year.
Peter Martin, Surrey County Council's member for schools, said applications for primary places had risen 3.7 per cent on last year.
He said: 'This is partially because of an increase in the birth rate and partially because fewer parents are putting their children into the private sector.'
Ministers have distributed £300million this year in emergency funding to provide new primary places in parts of the country with severe shortages.
Schools Minister Vernon Coaker said: 'We are aware of the continuing pressure that some local authorities will continue to face with growing numbers of primary pupils for several years, and this will be an important consideration for the next spending review in 2011.'
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Home Office chiefs were last night accused of pandering to Islam after it was revealed that they handed out a staggering 15 times more funding to a Muslim police support group than to its Christian equivalent.
A furious backlash followed revelations that the Christian Police Association received just £15,000 over the past five years while the National Association of Muslim Police was paid £90,000 in the past two years alone.
The newly released figures revealed that the CPA received an average of £3,000 a year, while the NAMP received £45,000 a year, despite both organisations having around 2,000 members.
The information was released by Home Secretary Alan Johnson after a written parliamentary question from his shadow Chris Grayling.
Don Axcell, executive director of the CPA, said repeated requests for additional funding had been ignored. And he disputed the figures the Home Office released, saying the sum they had received was even less.
“The only money we received was £10,000 in 2009,” he said. “We have applied for more funding but have either been turned down or ignored.”
Last night Christian groups reacted with anger after learning of the difference in Home Office funding. Alan Craig, leader of the Christian Peoples Alliance, said the move was “yet another sign of discrimination” against Christian groups in the UK.
Mr Craig, a councillor in the London borough of Newham, added: “Christians are constantly marginalised and discriminated against by the Government, who are ignoring one of this country’s principal faiths.”
The money was awarded as general funding or for specific projects. The NAMP received general funding of £90,000 over the past two years, £45,000 from 2008/9 and another £45,000 from 2009/10. The CPA was given general funding of £5,000 in 2004/5 and £10,000 in 2009/10.
The NAMP was formed in July 2007 and hit the headlines in January this year after it said the Government’s anti-terrorism strategy “stigmatised” Muslims.
President Zaheer Ahmed said the money was carefully regulated. “We do not get it in a lump sum. It comes every quarter and we do not get the next instalment unless the Home Office is satisfied our accounts are in order.”
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The Muslim prison population in England and Wales has sharply increased in recent years. The BBC's Ushma Mistry hears from former inmates and prison officers who claim gangs of Muslim prisoners are an increasingly powerful force.
"Muslims run it. Muslims run the prisons and there's nothing the screws can do about it. For a Muslim you'd say it's good but for a non-Muslim, it's very, very bad," a former inmate called Jay says.
It is a claim which is backed by former prison officers and other inmates.
Jay, 24, is a Muslim and has been in and out of prison for most of his life.
He openly admits to helping to convert non-Muslim inmates to Islam and has meted out violence against anyone who dares to "disrespect" his religion.
He first went to prison when he was 15 and said there were hardly any Muslims inmates back then.
"At the beginning not many knew about Islam. There weren't many converts. The mosque was empty, but nowadays jails are run mostly by the Muslims," he said.
"There are certain brothers that convert purely on the basis that they read Islam and they want to believe in something that does good for them. Then other people because they want to be looked after.
"I've been in jail five times and on my last occasion, I've seen jails being run by Muslim inmates.
"Muslim prayers on a Friday are very, very busy. In some prisons there's no space. In one jail I was in, they do the prayers in two sessions because there's no space."
Intimidating
Muslims represent 12% (9,795) of the prison population in England and Wales, according to the latest available figures from 2008. This has risen by 50% over five years.
In some high security prisons, the figures are well above average.
In 2008, Muslim prisoners accounted for a third (34%) of prisoners in HMP Whitemoor, in March, Cambridgeshire, and about a quarter (24%) of inmates in HMP Long Lartin, in Evesham, Worcestershire.
Speaking anonymously, a former prison officer, who worked at HMP Long Lartin, told the Donal MacIntyre programme about cases where non-Muslim prisoners were seriously assaulted and intimidated for refusing to abide by unofficial rules imposed by Muslim gangs, about eating pork or listening to Western music.
"Muslim gangs was something I was very concerned about - the situation changed where underworld gangsters who used to keep discipline and order were no longer in charge in the prison," she said.
"The younger guys, who were being forced to convert, were doing it more for protection from a Muslim gang rather than follow the faith - most of them weren't interested in the faith.
"I knew one lad quite well who was approached by the radical Muslims, and he changed. He just seemed very frightened all the time.
"He used to be forced to pray at certain times and I know for a fact they would be woken in the middle of the night to pray.
"He even grew a long beard even though he didn't want to. I asked him why he grew the beard and he said 'It's survival miss, survival'".
Physical retribution
Colin Moses, national chairman of prison workers' trade union, the POA, said not all Muslims in prison were in gangs, but acknowledged there was a growing problem.
"People are being radicalised, forcibly radicalised by these gangs. We see it as a real danger, now and for the future of prisons," he said.
And, he pointed out that those who were in gangs or converted to Islam often did it to carry out criminal activities.
"As the Muslim population grows, the gangs are becoming more and more prevalent by the week and they fight to take control of the drug trade and the dealing of mobile phones in prison.
"This will make our prisons even more violent," he added.
Violence is something familiar to former inmate Jay, who admits to physical retribution on fellow inmates who he deemed to have disrespected Islam.
"It hurts as a Muslim to have someone disrespect my religion. If we deal with him one time, with violence, and show him what time it is, he will never disrespect our religion again," he said.
He also believes prison officers have much to learn about Islam.
"Islam is a very sensitive matter. And the screws don't understand that. I respect what the screws do but they've got to understand our ways, where we're coming from," he added. Continued
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(Recap: October 2008)
Islamic terrorists and other Muslim prisoners at one of Britain's top-security jails are being left by staff to 'police themselves', it has emerged.
Religious extremists, including al Qaeda members, are forcibly recruiting other inmates of Whitemoor Prison into their gangs, an official report revealed.
And staff at the Cambridgeshire jail don't know how to 'challenge inappropriate behaviour,' prison inspectors said.
Their shocking warnings echo recent reports of the threat from Islamic gangs within Whitemoor and other high security prisons, including HMP Frankland in Co Durham.
It has also been revealed that emergency plans have been drawn up in response to fears of a plot by fanatics to take prison staff hostage.
Prison Officers' leaders last night backed the warnings - revealing that staff came close to losing control of a wing at Whitemoor only last week.
They blamed 'bleeding heart liberals' among the Prison Service for eroding the authority of staff inside jails, preventing them from dealing with the problems robustly.
'I'm fed up with bleeding heart liberals not wanting us to use the word 'control' about prisoners. We have to be able to control difficult and dangerous criminals in prison. We can deal with these problems if we're allowed to deal with them, but sometimes that means robust action. Continued
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(Recap: June 2009)
Eighty bombs have been found inside jails, it has emerged. The ‘viable explosive devices or components’ have been discovered in prison since 1997, while a further 254 suspect devises were spotted by authorities.
The revelations last night raised new fears about jail security, with increasing numbers of terrorists, including Islamic fanatics, imprisoned in recent years.
Suspect devices have been found at high-security prisons Whitemoor in Cambridgeshire and Long Lartin in Worcestershire.
Both hold terrorists, and prison officers have warned of a rise in the number of extremists in jail.
Five devices were found at HMP Ashwell, which was badly damaged by fire during rioting earlier in 2009.
Shadow Justice Minister, Edward Garnier said:
'It is deeply disturbing to discover that so many explosive devises have been found in our prisons. Ministers need to get a grip.
'After the near total destruction of HMP Ashwell by fire and with the present level of overcrowding they need to be especially vigilant.'
In the last year, six viable devices were found - in HMP Elmley, HMP Garth, HM Young Offender Institute Glen Parva, HMP Long Lartin, HMP Manchester, and HMP Parc.
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An American citizen who is being held in Yemen accused of being an al-Qaeda militant worked for six years at a series of US nuclear power plants, it emerged on friday.
Sharif Mobley, 26, who started a gun battle as he tried to escape from a hospital in Yemen last week, killing one person and wounding several others, worked at three nuclear reactors in his native New Jersey between 2002 and 2008.
Mr Mobley was among 11 al-Qaeda suspects arrested during a series of raids in the Yemeni capital Sanaa in this month, and is believed to have links to Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian radical who tried to blow up a US aircraft on Christmas Day.
Before moving to Yemen in 2008, supposedly to learn Arabic and study Islam, Mr Mobley worked at Salem and Hope Creek nuclear power stations and at another plant on Artificial Island in Lower Alloways Creek.
The company that owns the plants, Public Service Enterprise Group, said in a report to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission that Mr Mobley carried out maintenance at the plants and carried supplies.
A spokesman for the governor of New Jersey said that Mr Mobley was not believed to have breached security at the plants, but it was still unclear last night what access, if any, he had to sensitive technology.
His case is the latest example of a radicalised American travelling overseas to join al-Qaeda – a growing trend that has US authorities deeply worried – and the fact that he worked at nuclear plants makes his case all the more troubling.
Earlier this week it emerged that an American woman, who used the internet nom de guerre JihadJane, has been in custody since October. She is accused of traveling to Sweden to kill the cartoonist whose depictions of the Prophet Muhammed outraged many Muslims.
Mr Mobley, who was recaptured after the gun battle at the hospital, where he was being treated, already had strong religious views by the time he left school.
However, his alleged radicalisation occurred more recently. A former classmate, Roman Castro, who served with the US Army in Iraq, said that he last saw Mr Mobley four years ago, and that he was clearly more radical. When they met, Mr Mobley yelled at him: “Get the hell away from me, you Muslim killer!”
American officials worry that Yemen is becoming the biggest terrorist staging ground for al-Qaeda, with many members of the group having moved there from Afghanistan and Pakistan.
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Elderly people have been neglected and abused in nursing homes given a clean bill of health by official watchdogs, the Sunday Express can reveal.
An investigation has uncovered a catalogue of failures in homes rated adequate, good or excellent by the Care Quality Commission. Frail and vulnerable pensioners were left tied to their wheelchairs with their tights or dressing gown cords. Others were left lying in their own waste for hours.
Some suffered gangrene and bedsores, others were malnourished and dehydrated. In some cases patients were tormented and hit by staff and one 89-year-old woman had food flicked in her face.
Last night Labour MP Kevin Barron, chairman of the Commons Health Select Committee, dem anded an investigation into the scandal.
“There must be an immediate response by the Care Quality Commission to these allegations,” he said.
Shadow Health Minister Stephen O’Brien said: “Elderly people are being let down. We cannot go on like this.” The investig ation has been carried out by the Sunday Express with the charity Compassion in Care, which exposes abuse of the elderly.
Its founder Eileen Chubb said: “We have been raising serious concerns about care home regulation for years.
The only protection vulnerable residents of these homes have is a watchdog with plenty of teeth but all too often no inclination to bite.
“I have seen the most appalling abuse overlooked and even justified by the inspectors, the very people who should be protecting victims.”
In one case, residents at a Bupa-run home in Peter borough were subjected to cruelty and neglect for more than three years.
A hearing by the Nursing and Midwifery Council found residents at Wentworth Croft nursing home had been tied to their wheelchairs with dressing gown cords or tights for hours.
The abuse went on between 2001 and 2004. However, between February 2003, the earliest records available, and April 2004, the official regulator, then known as the Commission for Social Care Inspection, visited the home three times and each time graded it “good”.
Between 2004 and 2006 Jean Beech, 72, claims her elderly husband John, who suffers dementia, was neglected at the home. She says he was regularly left soaked in urine and often covered in unexplained bruises.
In October 2004 he was taken to hospital following a serious accident in which he lost the sight in his right eye. He had been walking in the grounds unaided at night even though his records show he should have been in a wheelchair.
At another home, 85-year-old William Perrin died with agonising bedsores and gangrene due to long-term neglect.
A coroner concluded malnutrition and infections contributed to his death in February last year.
Mr Perrin had gone into the home at Eltandia Hall in Norbury, south London, in May 2008 where his family says he began to lose weight drastically.
Staff overlooked the fact he was dangerously thin and lying in his own waste, which was seeping into his infected wounds.
However, an inspection by the Commission for Social Care Inspection in April and May 2008 passed the home, which charges up to £1,100 a week, as “adequate”.
At Finch Manor care home in Dovecot, Liverpool, residents were abused and tormented bet ween August 2007 and April 2008.
Last February care assistant Tammy Knox, 23, was given a six-month suspended jail sentence for ill-treating residents with dementia.
The court heard Knox had pushed and hit them. She was convicted of flicking food in the face of 89-year-old Frances Bradley and hitting her with a metal bib, leaving her face bruised.
However, an inspection by the Care Standards Commission in October 2007 found all standards at the home were met and some exceeded.
Betty Spargo, 77, died in February 2008 after being scalded in a bath at Chesswood lodge, a home in Worthing, West Sussex.
The home pleaded guilty to failing to meet health and safety standards after local authority health officials found the bath was not fitted with any temperature control device.
Reports from the Commission for Social Care Inspection had not identified health and safety concerns, though worryingly it had not visited the home for two years before the incident occurred. Its report of November 2005 said bathing and toilet facilities “exceeded minimum standards”.
At the next inspection on September 26, 2006, it concluded the home was “safe” and equipment maintained.
A spokesman for the Care Quality Commission said: “We take these allegations very seriously and will look closely at the information provided before responding.”
Tim Seal, regional director for Bupa Care Services said of Wentworth Croft home: “The well-being of our residents is our top priority and in the rare cases when something does go wrong we believe in being honest, investigating fully and taking action.”
There was no one available at Eltandia, Finch Manor or Chesswood Lodge to comment.
For more information visit www.compassionincare.com.
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If one public figure embodies all the arrogance, incompetence, dogmatism and greed of the Labour elite it is Baroness Ashton, recently appointed the new foreign Minister of the European Union.
Only through a typical Brussels stitch-up last November did this socialist apparatchik achieve her exalted and lucrative position in charge
of the eU’s foreign policy.
In the 100 days since she took up her post she has lived down to all the lowest expectations.
Her performance has been dismal, her authority non- existent. Unable to speak any foreign language, devoid of experience in international affairs, she has not only been manipulated by officials but has made a string of errors.
To the outrage of many european politicians she failed to visit Haiti in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake despite the huge levels of eU support provided to the stricken country.
Ashton’s response to the sense of crisis that has gripped her office is all too typical of the parasitical eU bureaucracy which now controls our lives.
Her office now says that what she really needs to do her job properly is a private jet.
Yes, that’s right, it’s now suggested the Left-wing champion of the people, the friend of the downtrodden, the crusader against climate change deserves to be flown around the globe in her own personal aircraft, paid for of course by the taxpayers.
Ashton is just like one of the slab-faced plutocrats of the old soviet Union, lecturing the public about duty and sacrifice while leading a life of extreme privilege. The european Commission already has a travel budget of almost £4 million but that’s not good enough for her.
Her people wail that without her own dedicated plane she has been forced to use commercial flights or hitch lifts with other officials. Honestly, who does this jumped-up nonentity think she is? Winston Churchill managed to cope on overseas trips throughout the second World War by flying in the back of a noisy Us Liberator bomber.
Clement Attlee, Labour’s greatest prime minister, took the bus home from Downing street to north London.
The supposed justification for this extravagance is that Lady Ashton has vital work to perform both in conducting talks with world leaders and in setting up the eU’s new diplomatic service but such claims are just nonsense.
None of the electorates of Europe ever wanted an EU foreign service or minister. This is really just about empire-building by the Brussels oligarchy, grabbing more power for itself while destroying the influence of the nation states.
Ashton’s very position at the top of the EU’s hierarchy is an affront to democracy. The peoples of Europe never had any say in the Lisbon Treaty, the deal that led to the creation of the her job and the EU’s diplomatic service. In Ireland, the only nation that actually held a referendum on Lisbon, the public initially voted against the treaty and so were forced to vote again until they came up with the right result. Like the Mafia the eU is an organisation that refuses to accept “no” for an answer.
Ashton herself encapsulates this profoundly undemocratic spirit. she had never been elected to any position in her life. Before she was made a peer by Tony Blair in 1999 she had been a politically correct quango crat and Left-wing activist. for a time in the late seventies and early eighties she was a full-time official of the Campaign for nuclear Disarmament, the dangerously misguided organisation which sought to leave Britain defence- less in the face of the soviet threat. she also worked for the national Council for one Parent families and chaired the Hertfordshire Health Authority, hardly roles that equip her to strut around the international stage.
Her role highlights the worst excesses of the EU in all its extravagance and self-importance. The unwanted diplomatic empire, officially called the European external Action service, is to cost a colossal £41billion over the next seven years, a sum that amounts to an abuse of public money at a time of crippling deficits. no fewer than 7,000 bureaucrats are to work in this outfit, swanning from one irrelevant conference to another, dishing out cash to corrupt regimes and indulging in endless banquets at our expense.
Baroness Ashton herself has her snout deeply in the trough with an annual salary of £270,000, more than Gordon Brown and even President Barrack obama.
In addition she has a £38,000 accommodation allowance, two chauffeurs and a £10,000 entertainment budget.
What is so sickening is that this expensive activity is directed towards the destruction of our own independence.
In effect, through the vast subsidies for Ashton’s empire, we are being forced to pay for our own national demise.
The establishment of an EU foreign office is another stage on the road towards the creation of the unified European superstate with all the members reduced to the status of colonial provinces.
In her very first speech as EU foreign boss Ashton said she wanted to see all 27 governments “presenting a coordinated foreign policy,” words that again reflect the determination of the EU to destroy the concept of national interests.
Just as her work with CnD, whose policies would have weakened our country in the face of Russian power, was misguided so today, as the figurehead for the sinister eU elite, she is colluding in the obliteration of our nationhood.
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Green Arrow - Green Arrow & Friends
Well what are we to make of the British National Party's day in court? As usual I have have not thought the direction of this article through and so will let my mind flow at the speed of my not inconsiderable typing speed, so expect a mish-mash of thoughts.
It went exactly as I thought it would. The Judge had already been given his instructions days ago and the rest was a formality. I believe that the two thirds of the charges brought by the illegal and corrupt EHCR that were thrown out were just to "show" to the public that he, the judge was a thoughtful just man and not the tool of The Establishment that he really is.
The Establishments real but self-defeating objectives were obtained but only served to work in favour of the British National Party for a number of reasons.
Consider the publicity The Party has received. Incredible. Millions of pounds worth of almost free publicity. I say almost because of course The Party has to stump up £60,000 in unjust court charges. But whilst many of us do not have £60 let alone £60,000, the charges are peanuts in the scheme of things and the patriotic supporters of the British Resistance will dig deep as they always do when it comes to defending Our Country.
Now about the publicity. Why do the findings of the Judge work in the British National Party's favour (damn arthritis)? Well because the True British People, some of who do not yet support the BNP have a great deal of common sense and an inbred sense of fair play.
Common sense and and fair play are uniquely True British traits that are not fully understood by civic "British Citizens", many of whom brought about these trumped up charges. Consider the following.
The court ruled that it was illegal for potential members of the British National Party to have to agree to a visit by BNP officials to confirm that the would be members were who they said they were and if they were suitable for Party membership as this could operate as a form of indirect discrimination against non-whites.
This policy is of course a common sense action and is carried out for a number of reasons and none of those reasons have anything to to do with discrimination. The BNP leaves discrimination to The Establishment that is attempting genocide against the True British People.
The purpose of the visit by two BNP officials is to reassure the potential members that the British National Party members are just ordinary people like themselves. It is to welcome them into what is in effect an extended family. Some people in remote places have been disappointed that they did not receive visits, as like most new members and potential members they usually have a lot to get of their chests when they meet the BNP officials and most of the time the BNP visitors just listen.
Another purpose of the visit, is as Nick Griffin MEP cleverly pointed out in his TV interview, that the BNP have an Health and Safety duty to protect their members from UAF fanatics seeking to gain information that could lead to physical attacks on current BNP members.
Some of us will remember the attack on a BNP members house by the UAF thug Daniel Searle. Should there be any attacks on BNP members by "new" members such as Searle, then the responsibility for such attacks lies clearly at the feet of Judge Paul Collins who forced the BNP to remove this condition of being a member from their constitution.
Likewise, the BNP should have the right to exclude undesirable people, such as those who seek to destroy, disrupt or discredit the party by joining. That is only common sense and the British People will see that.
So the EHCR and The Establishment's tool, Judge Paul Collins have done the party a good turn, as his decision will no doubt bring new supporters if not members to the party.
Then Judge Collins really won the patriotic BNP a shed full of votes when he forced the removal of the right for members of the BNP to support the "continued creation, fostering, maintenance and existence of the the indigenous British".
By ordering the removal of a pledge for new members to oppose immigration and for members to preserve the integrity of the "indigenous British" and also ordering the removal of another pledge to oppose immigration into the UK and maintain Britons as the "overwhelming majority" was tantamount to The Establishment saying. You are not allowed to be white British. You are not allowed to object to your genocide. This should be more than enough to wake up more slumbering British Lions.
As is usual with The Establishment press, The Times gives the communist Searchlight organisation that pulls their strings, the last word by quoting them as saying that the judgement was a "devastating personal humiliation for Nick Griffin".
Dream on Gerry. This was a victory for Nick Griffin and the BNP and your pathetic wet dream that the changes to the BNP constitution would cause dissent within the party is just that. The pathetic wet dream of sick marxists whose day in the sun has passed. This court ruling has just drawn the BNP closer together and reinforced their will to win and obtain justice for the True British People. You are toast.
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The mother of a teenage soldier heading to Afghanistan has told how she was forced to buy basic equipment for her son’s 18th birthday because the Government failed to provide it.
Worried Sharon Light forked out for son Matty’s military webbing to enable him to safely store ammunition and personal equipment on the front line.
Her son, a private stationed in Germany, had bought some vital kit himself and asked for more for his 18th birthday. She said some equipment had been supplied by the Army but was not of a good enough standard. Her damning revelation came when she spoke out on BBC TV’s Question Time on Thursday.
She said: “I am a parent of a child who is in the Army. He joined at 16 and he’s recently turned 18 and now he’s preparing to go to Afghanistan. What has really shocked me is the Government are providing basic equipment but if he wants comfortable equipment, if he wants equipment that will do a better job, he’s paying for it himself. We’re paying for it as his parents and people don’t realise that they only give them the very, very basics. If you want better, then you’re buying it yourself.
“It’s just been his 18th birthday and I’ve bought him all his webbing, the equipment to put his ammunition and his bottles in, so he’s got decent good quality equipment to take with him. “I paid for that and other things out of my own pocket.”
Mrs Light’s outburst comes as the Government has been at the centre of a series of scandals over a lack of vital equipment for front-line military personnel. Last week Gordon Brown sparked fury after he appeared before the Iraq War Inquiry and repeatedly denied he put troops’ lives at risk by refusing cash for equipment when he was Chancellor.
Former Europe Minister Caroline Flint, who also appeared on the programme, said she had been alerted to issues over kit by constituents. The Labour MP said: “Over the years I have had constituents who have had sons and daughters, nieces and nephews, in the services and they have come to me as well with concerns like that.
“Whatever is the basic kit, it has to be right, it has to be fit for purpose. That’s why some of the issues with vehicles has had attention because some of them were not fit for the purpose they were being used for. “If there is an issue where your son, who’s coming up to 18, thinks the equipment he has been provided can’t serve him well then that is something that should be raised to make sure we are getting that right.”
Yesterday Mrs Light, who lives with her farmer husband and two younger children, near Bradford, West Yorks, declined to elaborate. Last night a family friend said: “It is not just their son that’s involved, it’s the whole of the Army. They are shocked and very concerned about it.”
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The taxman was yesterday accused of deliberately sitting on millions of pounds owed to the public.
There is evidence of widespread delays in issuing refund cheques already agreed and in settling routine claims for tax repayments, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
And some accountants are now wondering whether there is a deliberate strategy from a cash-strapped Exchequer to slow down these payments.
Mike Warburton, a partner in the Bristol office of national accountant Grant Thornton, said: 'We're finding that HM Revenue & Customs is using every excuse to hang on to the money and it is more difficult to extract refund payments.
'It is costing us time, and our clients money, to get back what they are owed. The bigger the sum due, the harder it is to reclaim it.
'The attitude at the Revenue seems to be that once the money is in its bank account it belongs to them. But it doesn't. The refunds we are chasing is money that clients are legally entitled to.'
He added: 'Is it incompetence or a deliberate strategy?'
The Mail on Sunday reported on significant delays in tax refunds in May and June last year.
In particular, claims for repayment were being unnecessarily delayed in the name of extra security checks carried out by a secretive unit in Bristol operating out of 101 Victoria Street – which has been dubbed the financial equivalent of George Orwell's Room 101.
Last June, the Revenue apologised and promised to improve its systems. But nine months on, it appears little has changed.
Anne-Maree Dunn, a tax partner with accountants Vantis, based in St Albans, Hertfordshire, said: 'There are particular problems where a refund claim is not part of the automatic self-assessment process – for example because it relates to a previous tax year, and must be manually processed by Revenue staff. We are having to monitor, chase and follow up repeatedly on these.'
Tina Riches, technical director at the Chartered Institute of Taxation, said: 'There has been a tightening-up in this area, with claims for repayment being looked into more closely.'
One Mail on Sunday reader said he had a five-month delay in extracting a refund of more than £40,000, owed due to an overpayment in the tax year 2008-09.
He says: 'On three occasions there have been conference calls arranged which have then been cancelled by the Revenue, each time adding a couple of weeks to the delay.'
Having finally been told the payment was agreed and the money was on its way, he was then informed the case had been passed to a special enquiry unit for further checks.
He says: 'My accountant says that virtually all automatic refunds have stopped and he has dozens of clients who are in the same position.'
But it is not only big refunds that are getting snarled up in the system. Colin Pritt, 52, from Blackburn, Lancashire, faced a six-month wait before his refund of £650 was finally paid at the end of January.
He says: 'On each occasion I rang the Revenue, the automated voice machine put me on hold, listening to music for over ten minutes.
'I'm convinced they put every obstacle in the way so that less determined people, or people who are confused or intimidated by officialdom, will give up.'
Hard-pressed small businesses are also suffering.
A study by accountants UHY Hacker Young says companies are waiting twice as long for refunds of corporation tax than they were a year ago.
Rob Durrant-Walker, a tax manager in the accountants' York office, says: 'A year ago it took a week to ten days from us submitting a company tax return to a repayment coming through.
'Now the average is 35 days and there are often cases that take up to two months.'
The delays in refunds may also have been exacerbated by errors with millions of tax codes that have been issued in preparation for the new tax year.
Bugs in a new Revenue computer meant incorrect codes have been produced for many people with two jobs or multiple sources of pensions.
Almost 3,000 Revenue staff have been put to work to sort out the problem, dragging workers away from other projects.
Last year the Revenue said there had been attempts by organised crime gangs to submit false repayment claims.
And this has compounded problems.
A Revenue spokesman said last night: 'We take steps to protect honest taxpayers and the Exchequer from fraudulent attacks on the system and these can take time, but the majority of repayments are made within a couple of weeks. We will prioritise repayments to those that are most in need.
'The volume of repayment requests received by our offices fluctuates and if there is the risk of a backlog we reprioritise work to head it off.'
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A wealthy Conservative MP has been criticised for claiming 13p for Tipp-Ex on his parliamentary expenses. Andrew Mitchell, the Shadow Secretary for International Development, also submitted a 45p invoice for a stick of glue.
The former investment banker is regarded as one of the richest MPs at Westminster. A descendant of the founders of the El Vino wine merchants, he lives in a £2million house in Islington, North London.
The two claims form part of the £26,500 Mr Mitchell has sought to recoup in expenses since May last year. They appear in an online register of expenses submitted by senior Tories.
The list was set up by David Cameron, who said: 'Everything about our political process should be published online, all the time: the expenses, the spending, the lobbying, parliamentary proceedings, the lot.'
Mr Mitchell's claim, dated January 21, under the heading 'Description of Claim' states: 'Stationery: tipex (sic)'. The figure registered in the amount column is £0.13.
But Matthew Elliott, of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: 'After all that has happened, you would hope MPs would have become a little more relaxed about claiming every possible thing on expenses. Office costs should be covered, but it wouldn't hurt Mr Mitchell to pay 13p himself every now and then.'
Mitchell, 53, MP for Sutton Coldfield since 2001, has come under scrutiny for previous expense claims.
Last year it was revealed he claimed £19,000 for furnishing and decorating his £400,000 constituency home.
In 2004, he also demanded the Commons fees office pay him £2,000 from his second home allowance 'until it is exhausted'.
As well as his MP's salary of £64,700, Mr Mitchell is paid £40,000 a year in his role as an adviser to consultancy group Accenture.
According to the Register of Members' Interests, he is also a paid director of six subsidiaries of investment bank Lazard & Co.
In 2002 Mr Mitchell received a £630,000 windfall when he sold his stake in El Vino.
Responding to criticism over the Tippex claim, he said: 'This is a perfectly normal office expense, the likes of which any office up and down the country might use.'
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British workers have been turned away from jobs in a local factory – for not speaking Polish.
Cooked meat manufacturer Forza AW effectively barred anyone but Poles for applying for jobs on its production line in East Anglia by insisting all staff speak the language fluently.
The company claimed it was necessary as all health and safety training was conducted in Polish.
'I couldn't believe it - are we in England or in Poland?'
But Forza – a major supplier of Asda supermarkets – was last night accused of anti-British discrimination because of the adverts, which came after an official report detailed how unscrupulous employers prefer to hire migrants because they are cheap and less inclined to answer back.
Forza’s insistence on Polish speakers may be illegal, as a spokesman for the Government Equalities Office said last night: ‘Under the 1976 Race Relations Act, unless there is a genuine need for a worker to speak a particular language it is against the law to require that they should do so as a condition of employing them.’
Forza’s advertisement came as the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s report condemned the ‘mistreatment and exploitation’ of foreign workers, who are often too afraid to raise concerns for fear of being sacked.
The commission said it uncovered ‘widespread evidence’ of physical and verbal abuse and lack of proper health and safety protection, while workers often have little knowledge of their rights.
It is also reported that British workers had spoken of difficulty in registering with employment agencies that supply mainly East European workers.
Shadow Immigration Minister Damian Green said the advert exposed the hollowness of Gordon Brown’s pledge to create ‘British jobs for British workers’.
He added: ‘He must regret ever saying that because it has proved a cruel deception for millions of the unemployed.’
Forza’s advert was sent out via email by East Anglia-based employment agency OSR Recruitment earlier this month.
Headed ‘Immediate factory work available!!!!’ it continued: ‘If you are available or have any friends available, work is starting tomorrow for induction training.
‘Ongoing factory work (meat production) for 4-5 months, shifts are 7am-5pm or 9am-7pm.
‘Transport provided. Applicants must speak Polish. Please call asap!!!!!!’
The advert was signed Katrina Massingham, the company’s ‘industrial team leader’ and it was dispatched to hundreds of potential applicants on the firm’s books.
One job seeker, who contacted The Mail on Sunday after receiving the email, said: ‘I couldn’t believe it when I first read it – are we in England or Poland, for goodness sake?
‘If it was a job where you were flying back and forth to Warsaw, I could understand it, but you wouldn’t think language ability would be high on the list of requirements for someone packing sausages all day long.’
A reporter listened in as the 31-year-old man called OSR to ask about the jobs last Tuesday.
The first question he was asked was: ‘Are you Polish?’ When he said no, but could speak the language ‘a little’, he was told: ‘Actually, you have to be fluent because the health and safety training is all done in Polish.’
By Friday, however, after The Mail on Sunday rang again several times and got the same response, the company appeared to have second thoughts about the wisdom of the advert.
An OSR employee gave a different version to a Polish-speaking reporter saying: ‘Actually, you don’t have to be Polish, but it helps.’
When another reporter posed as an English applicant, Ms Massingham told him that all the jobs had been filled but that the language requirement was ‘not too important now’.
She added: ‘For some reason the training was in Polish but we’re trying to get them to change it, because it’s a bit silly, really’.
Earlier, OSR also posted the advert in Polish in several of the Eastern European shops in East Anglia.
The advert, as she had translated it and posted in her shop, read: ‘Work for Poles. Urgent! Production line work starting March 5, 2010, Full-time (5 days a week). Transport from Norwich city centre and uniforms provided. English not necessary. OSR Agency, Katrina or David.’
Last night, Forza AW claimed the advert was ‘a mistake due to a breakdown in communications and should never have gone out’.
Forza is a leading supplier to supermarkets, and holds a multi-million- pound contract to supply the majority of Asda’s cooked meat range.
Led by £780,000-a-year Max Hilliard, once described as the most powerful man in the British pig industry, it has a £140million turnover and 600 employees. It is normally based in Cleckheaton, West Yorkshire, but about a third of its plant was destroyed in a blaze last month.
As a temporary measure, the company leased factory space and machinery at Bernard Matthews Farms’ huge plant in Great Witchingham, just outside Norwich.
The turkey producer was able to offer spare capacity as its busiest time is some months away.
There is no other connection between the two firms. As dawn broke over a rainswept Norwich on Friday, Mail on Sunday reporters watched as ten Eastern Europeans who had been hired after answering the advert gathered outside a John Lewis store waiting for the 6am bus to take them to their long shift.
Stopping three times elsewhere in the city to pick up more workers, the vehicle made its way ten miles north to Great Witchingham.
Once out of the bus, virtually every one of the workers took the chance for a last cigarette before entering the plant for the start of the 7am shift. At the same time, workers in other buses arrived from all over Norfolk and Suffolk, some to work for Bernard Matthews, others for Forza.
Yesterday, Mr Hilliard, claimed the advert’s wording was a mistake and due to a ‘breakdown in communications’ between his firm and OSR Recruitment. He said he was unaware of the ‘Must speak Polish’ clause until The Mail on Sunday alerted him to it.
‘In normal circumstances, this ad would have been vetted and the error removed,’ said the 51-year-old, who is Forza’s chief executive and principal shareholder, owning 60 per cent of the company.
‘But following the chaos of the fire, and the necessity to quickly set up production with 400 workers in another part of the country, the mistake was made but wasn’t spotted.
‘We employ many English workers as well as Poles and Lithuanians, though I can’t give you exact figures, and I assure you categorically that all our training and health and safety briefings are conducted in English, Polish or whatever the employee speaks.
‘I cannot say how this error came about, perhaps a glib comment was made about the difficulty of operating in several different languages, I don’t know, but we would never turn down an English person for a job on the basis that they didn’t speak Polish or any other language.
‘When we moved production down to Norfolk, we contacted the Gangmasters’ Licensing Authority to be put in touch with a reputable agency, and were directed towards OSR Recruitment.
‘I did speak to them in person about our requirements, but I didn’t see the finished advert. It should never have happened and I apologise to anyone who was put off applying for jobs as a result of this email.’
Asked whether the firm would be using OSR for recruitment in the future, he declined to comment.
Forza has become a giant in the processed meat industry in just two years. It specialises in pre-packed and pre-sliced deli-counter style products. Mario Bardwell, a director of OSR Recruitment, refused to discuss the email when approached by The Mail on Sunday. He asked us to put the questions to him in an email – but still did not respond to the written enquiry.
Forza recently announced plans to double its payroll to 1,200 staff, after winning a new contract, and has been considering plans to move to larger premises.
However, the fire at the existing West Yorkshire factory has affected migrant workers there.
Some of the plant’s 600 staff, many of them migrants supplied by local recruitment company Red Rock On Site Services, were sent home. And if they have worked in Britain for less than a year, they are unable to claim benefits.
Helena Danielczuk, who works for Bradford mental health charity Sharing Voices, said she had been approached by more than a dozen Eastern European workers who lost their jobs at Forza.
She said: ‘They have to work for an unbroken 12 months otherwise they are unable to claim Jobseeker’s Allowance. Some of them are destitute.’ The charity has called for financial support for migrant workers left without work because of the fire.
In the late Nineties Mr Hilliard was boss of Malton Foods, then owned by dairy giants Unigate, which bought about a third of the pigs processed for meat in Britain.
He was at the centre of protests from pig farmers when he was awarded the industry’s top prize despite being behind cuts to farmers’ prices three times in a year. National Farmers’ Union members said that it was ‘like giving Saddam Hussein the Nobel Peace Prize’.
The new row will reopen the fierce debate touched off by the recent BBC documentary The Day The Immigrants Left, in which Britons took over migrant workers’ low-paid jobs.
In the film, presented by Evan Davis, some of the featured locals from Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, complained they were routinely turned down for factory work as they were English, an assertion denied by one boss of a potato-packing factory who said: ‘Where British workers are, I don’t know, but they’re not applying for jobs.’
But when two of the participants, jobless Paul North and Terry Garner, did apply for jobs after a successful stint on the shop floor, they were told ‘no suitable vacancies were available’.
Mr Garner said he was ‘not surprised in the least’ to hear that such as discriminatory advert had been issued on behalf of Forza.
He said: ‘I don’t know what the story is with this firm, but I am sure this kind of thing goes on all the time, only the employers are less obvious and just sift through the applications to find the foreign workers.
‘I’ve got nothing against foreigners – they do work hard, but they do it for less money, because they often don’t bring their families and they’ll share accommodation to bring down their overheads.
‘They might pay tax, but at the end of the day, most of the money they’re paid goes back to their own country and not into our economy.’
Mr Garner and Mr North are both currently working as temporary cable layers.
Bosses at Bernard Matthews were said to be upset that the offending advert might – however unfairly – tarnish the firm’s reputation. The company was recently praised by the Equality and Human Rights Commission in its report into migrant workers in the meat and poultry industry.
While the body uncovered widespread abuse of migrant and agency workers, including a lack of proper health and safety protection, Europe’s largest turkey producer was singled out for special praise.
The report stated: ‘One firm that was frequently mentioned as an employer of choice for agency workers was Bernard Matthews.
‘This was because of the respect for, and lack of differentiation between, agency staff and directly employed workers, and the steps taken to promote good relations between different nationalities.’
A Bernard Matthews spokesman said last night: ‘Forza are leasing spare capacity at our plant while they get over the fire at their factory in Yorkshire, but there’s no other link between the two companies.’
The company stepped in less than a week after the blaze, leasing its facilities for Forza for six months.
Meanwhile, an Asda spokesman added: ‘While we recognise that these were extraordinary circumstances for Forza, we’re pleased that they’ve quickly recognised the advert was a mistake.’
Sunday Roundup
of the News this Week
Home Office chiefs were last night accused of pandering to Islam after it was revealed that they handed out a staggering 15 times more funding to a Muslim police support group than to its Christian equivalent. A furious backlash followed revelations that the Christian Police Association received just £15,000 over the past five years while the National Association of Muslim Police was paid £90,000 in the past two years alone.
Peers accused of milking tens of thousands in expenses will escape criminal charges after a change in the rules left prosecutors at war with Parliament. Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer said Labour's Baroness Uddin will not face prosecution thanks to a last-minute change in the guidelines on second homes.
Britons arrested in Europe will not have the right to demand a full translation of the charges they are facing, under proposals supported by the government. Britain has backed plans to "dilute" the rights of its citizens when extradited or caught up in criminal proceedings in other European countries.
She had her first film aired in 1999 on UK porn channel Television X and has made over 250 scenes. To date her films are of a clear pornographic intent including threesomes, bisexual, group sex and gang bangs. So far, she has been a staunch advocate of all things blue. The first woman in Britain to direct adult films revealed yesterday, however, that her political colours are of a different hue.
A Man and a youth were arrested after trouble outside a Dewsbury school this week. Tuesday's disturbance at the gates of Thornhill Community Science College followed fighting in the playground the day before when a 14-year-old girl was taken to hospital with a suspected broken nose.
A high street fast food chain says it is meeting with a council of Mosques to reassure the organisation of its halal status. Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) says it is certified by the Halal Food Authority (HFA).
A Trawden woman has spoken of her disgust at an international fast food outlet choosing to serve only halal meat at its Colne premises. The woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, joins a growing number of objectors on Facebook, where more than 1,500 have supported the group "No Halal at Colne KFC".
A School has become the first non-Islamic primary in Britain to get strict accreditation for serving Halal food, it emerged yesterday.
Man made carbon emissions are staving off a new ice age, says a leading environmental scientist.Climate-change expert Dr James Lovelock says the greenhouse gases that have warmed the planet are likely to prevent a big freeze that could last millions of years.
Dominic Carman is the Liberal Democrat candidate who will be standing against the chairman of the British National Party, Nick Griffin MEP, in Barking come the General Election. A more detailed article will be produced shortly about just what sort of arrogant rat Dominic Carman is but meanwhile, this is a response to the lies Carman has published over on the Liberal Democrat Voice.
Teachers should not be banned from being members of the British National Party or any other organisation which promotes racism, a report has suggested. The review was commissioned by the government seven months ago after 15 teachers were identified as BNP members in a leaked list.
A government review has concluded that in the light of only four teachers and two governors having been identified as belonging to the British National Party since 2003, teachers in taxpayer funded schools should not be banned from joining the British National Party.
Do you want to know why the 'BNP teachers should be allowed to teach' non-story has been all over the media all day ? Because its a smokescreen. Do you remember on 911 when the Labour spin doctor Jo Moore did the following ; At 2:55pm BST (9:55am EDT) on 11 September 2001, after both World Trade Center towers had been hit in the attacks, but before either tower had collapsed, Moore sent an email to the press office of her department which read:
Membership applications to join the British National Party are now again open despite the state’s best efforts to subvert the party and democracy, Nick Griffin MEP has announced. Speaking after the conclusion of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) court case today, Mr Griffin said the court had in effect ruled that political parties could not ask its members to endorse policies which oppose mass immigration.
The British National Party in Lincolnshire aims to field at least six parliamentary candidates — out of the seven seats in the region — it was announced at the latest meeting of the Boston, Holbeach and Spalding group.
The warmist response to Climategate — the discovery of the thoroughly corrupt practices of the Climate Research Unit (CRU) — was that the tainted CRU dataset was just one of four independent data sets. You know. So really there’s no big deal.
More than £750million of taxpayers’ money has been spent on providing homes for asylum seekers over the past four years, Whitehall figures revealed last night. The huge sum lavished on council houses and other social homes for the families of foreign nationals claiming asylum here was disclosed in statistics released by the Home Office.
Ministers were yesterday urged to “seriously consider’’ banning burkhas in public as a Conservative MP became the first mainstream British politician to back the idea. Philip Hollobone told the Commons: “This is Britain. We are not a Muslim country. Covering your face in public is strange and to many people both intimidating and offensive.”
Gordon Brown has been asked for assurances that service personnel overseas will be able to vote in the coming General Election. During Prime Minister's Questions, Richard Benyon, a Tory MP and former soldier, said postal trials by the Army Families Federation had revealed limitations in the current arrangements.
Gordon Brown is anxious to avoid an election based on his record because it is so hard to defend. Whatever you think of Gordon Brown (and this newspaper has made no secret of its differences with the Prime Minister and his Government on many issues), you have to admire his resilience, and his brass neck.
A Judge sparked fury yesterday after insisting a group of travellers who “invaded” a picturesque village should be given a postcode. If the code is granted they will be eligible to claim thousands of pounds in state handouts.
Britain is the worst country in which to raise children, while Australia is the best, a study has found. The survey of expatriates living in six different countries found there was a better standard of living Down Under, and a better quality of family life.
Police are failing to visit tens of thousands of families whose lives are made a misery by louts, inspectors have warned. Chief Inspector of Constabulary Denis O'Connor added that half of forces may also fail to spot a Fiona Pilkington-style tragedy developing.
A man with learning difficulties was 'tormented to death' during 17 years of abuse by feral children. David Askew died on his doorstep during a confrontation with yobs. Police had been in regular contact with him, but had failed to halt what had become a daily routine of bullying against the man the gangs nicknamed 'Dopey Dave'.
The grim truth about Labour’s education policy was laid bare yesterday after it emerged the number of schools branded “inadequate” more than doubled in just six months.
A controversial plan to build a mosque with two 100ft minarets next to Sandhurst has been scrapped to the jubilation of thousands of residents. The £3million building would have had a clear view over the military academy and is just 400 yards from its parade ground - prompting fears it could be a security threat.
Freedom arrived earlier than expected for smoking ban martyr Nick Hogan yesterday... courtesy of a briefcase full of cash carried by a man in a green Guy Fawkes mask.
Climate change? carbon footprints? What global warming? Ministerial limousines have driven politicians 2.6 million miles in the last year – a rise of 10 per cent of the previous 12 months, new figures reveal.
The British National Party will contest Burnham’s seat at the forthcoming General Election, it has been confirmed.
English Democrats are to field a candidate in Bury South to fight the General Election.
Fat people are harming the planet by contributing to climate change, according to Sir Jonathan Porritt, the Government's chief green adviser.
The British National Party will be standing a full slate of parliamentary candidates in Shropshire at the general election despite never having stood in the county previously, reports West Midlands Deputy Organiser James Whittall.
Three Labour MPs accused of expenses fraud pleaded not guilty when they appeared in court for the first time on Thursday.
Alan and Ann Keen committed a “serious breach” of Commons rules by claiming second home allowances while effectively only having one home, John Lyon, the parliamentary standards commissioner, said this morning.
A fifth Labour MP is being investigated by police over his expenses, The Daily Telegraph can disclose. The Metropolitan Police has begun a criminal inquiry into Harry Cohen after he claimed more than £70,000 for a “second home” while renting out his main property.
One was a peer of the realm with an estimated £315million fortune, the other a council engineer. When the Mercedes-Benz driven by Baron Kirkham of Old Cantley almost collided with Keith Pearce's Fiat Punto, what followed did little to bridge the gap in their social status.
The Telegraph said; "Muslim Europe: the demographic time bomb transforming our continent" "The EU is facing an era of vast social change, and few politicians are taking notice"
Makes you wonder just how much MPs had spent from the John Lewis list to make them so profitable? Well' Just a thought eh? John Lewis and Waitrose staff are to be rewarded with bonuses worth nearly eight weeks’ wages after a leap in profits, it was announced yesterday.
Equalities chief Trevor Phillips was accused of contempt of parliament for trying to influence a Commons investigation into his controversial leadership, it emerged yesterday. MPs and peers complained the £112,000-a-year chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission had approached them to try to influence them ahead of the publication of a report they were writing into his leadership.
Nothing British was set up with the sole purpose of attacking the patriotic British National Party. Their full site title is actually Nothing British about the BNP.
Sent to her DEATH by the Government. Four soldiers including Cpl Sarah Bryant, the first female to die in Afghanistan, were unlawfully killed after troops were given "inadequate" training, a coroner has ruled.
A School has become the first non-Islamic primary in Britain to get strict accreditation for serving Halal food, it emerged yesterday.
A School in Blackburn has become the first state school in Britain to receive accreditation for serving Halal food.
Halal: Make your own minds up with these 3 videos
You will have to visit here to view and you may also be required to log in as the video is very distressing to watch as is the next one which we have just linked to in order to spare distress to younger readers.
Again you may be possibly asked to log in to view You can visit and view it here UKT is against all forms of animal cruelty and we call upon the spineless government, RSPCA and the gutless Animal Rights organisation to speak out for those they claim to protect and represent!
Seven Muslims were arrested in Ireland today over an alleged plot to assassinate a Swedish cartoonist who depicted the Prophet Mohammed with the body of a dog. Al Qaeda put a $100,000 bounty on the head of cartoonist Lars Vilks after a newspaper published his cartoon in July 2007.
Five men linked to a UK terror plot which would cause 'mass casualties' were arrested days before they planned to strike, a court heard today.
Outraged parents have hit out at a school in Birmingham after pupils discovered CCTV cameras in the school's toilets. Youngsters at Grace Academy in Chelmsley Wood claim they returned from half-term to find staff had installed the cameras without notifying them or their parents.
What are these sick Mad Marxist Bast*rds are doing to your children? A group of primary schoolchildren were left traumatised after their teacher told them they were to be taken away from their families during a bizarre Holocaust classroom 'game'.
With the general election only weeks away the pressure on the Tories is becoming intense. In a democracy it is right to scrutinise an opposition party which aspires to rule the country but parts of the media now act as if the Conservatives are in office and Labour is in opposition.
The British National Party’s candidate in the Nottinghamshire seat of Sherwood will be the ever-popular Councillor James North, the party’s East Midlands press officer, John Ryde has announced.
Election Looms and so it Begins... A Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate has come under fire for writing his own fan mail to send to a local newspaper.
An incoming Conservative government could come under immediate pressure to call a UK referendum on a new European Union treaty being suggested by Germany.
Sad news: George Monbiot, the high priest of the AGW cult, is feeling frustrated and depressed. He is oppressed by the realisation that, as the politicians phrase it, he is not getting his message across.
Recognising a bargain when they see it, the investment firm Low Carbon Accelerator (LCA) has invested £500,000 in wind and solar power project developer Vigor Renewables in order to cash-in on UK feed-in tariffs (FITs).
Read here. The pro-IPCC climate scientists predicted that mudslides and landslides (debris-flow) would increase due to global warming. Researchers examined the historical evidence and found the prediction to be without empirical merit. It appears that the left/liberal/progressive global warming, alarmist scientists (and IPCC) are again caught hyping calamitous predictions without the requisite scientific evidence.
You couldn't make this stuff up. It's always those filthy sceptics, flat-earthers, deniers. Here we are, just ordinary climate scientists going about our daily lives, fudging data, deleting emails when we get FOI requests, and threatening journals that dare to publish papers that challenge the consensus, and you nasty mean sceptics somehow find that objectionable.
Labour is adopting a 'scorched earth' policy by rushing through expensive projects before the an election is called, the Tories claim.
Patients’ confidential medical records are being placed on a controversial NHS database without their knowledge, doctors’ leaders have warned.
Technology to fight terrorists is being used by “town hall Stasi” to hike parking fines and rake in cash from motorists, the Tories said yesterday.
Pharmacist refuses to give mother, 38, contraceptive pills for period pain 'because of her religion'
As usual the need of the few outweigh the Right's of the Many! A pharmacist refused to serve a mother-of-two with a prescription for the contraceptive pill because it went against her religious beliefs.
Up to half the food aid sent to the hungry millions in Somalia never makes it to those who need it most, according to a shock United Nations report. Instead the aid ends up in the hands of corrupt contractors, radical Islamic militants and local United Nations staff.
Violent crime has rocketed by 44 per cent under Labour, official Parliamentary research revealed last night. The House of Commons Library report is the definitive independent verdict on the 13-year record of the Government.
The true scale of violent crime under the Labour government has been exposed by Whitehall officials.
Britain is in the grip of a wave of militancy by millions of public sector workers as unions threaten to 'unleash hell' on an incoming Conservative government.
The malicious court case against the British National Party over its membership rules has been postponed for final judgement to Friday after the presiding judge threw out two thirds of the Equalities and Human Rights Commissions’ case today.
The Department of Work and Pensions has been accused of trying to "bury bad news" by Tory MP Andrew Selous, for failing to answer parliamentary questions on time.
Just weeks before a general election, the Prime Minister provides a photo-opportunity of himself, posing with our brave boys in Afghanistan. A few hours later, it is announced that no reporters will be permitted to visit the front line during that election campaign, lest what they see and hear should influence the outcome.
This is a Labour Government which, it's worth recalling, was elected on a promise to provide the public with 'freedom of information'.
Westminster politicians from all main parties have failed to convince voters that they can control immigration, an exclusive opinion poll for the Daily Express reveals today.
"Yet none of the so-called "mainstream" political parties intends to go into the election on a platform of pulling our soldiers out of Afghanistan." The continuing British death toll in Afghanistan seldom gets the attention it deserves. Instead of the immediate attention that a flood commands, the deaths in Afghanistan have become like a dripping tap in British public life. See Also: Army faces Afghan gag for election
According to Professor Henry Higgins: 'In Hertford, Hereford and Hampshire, hurricanes hardly ever happen.' But then, in 1912, when George Bernard Shaw wrote Pygmalion, 'global warming' hadn't been invented.
(MasterResource is a blog dedicated to analysis and commentary about energy markets and public policy) Another error in the influential reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports has been identified. This one concerns the rate of expansion of sea ice around Antarctica.
Scientists at the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) built a dam to contain a lake full of dirty water. Someone behind the dam drilled a hole and sprang a leak. The flow is small but growing and the color of the water gets dirtier and dirtier and the size of the hole will increase as the extent of the corruption expands.
Fresh fears that Britain is heading for a hung parliament were raised last night after a new poll showed that Labour and the Conservatives are now neck and neck in marginal seats.
The imposition of VAT on groceries is being actively considered by Whitehall officials as a radical means of reducing the national deficit.
The government has used its Commons majority less than a month before the likely date of the general election to push through changes in the law placing the government's DNA database on a statutory footing.
Special Forces soldiers suffered a shortage of combat vehicles and mine detectors in Afghanistan, making their operation even more risky, an SAS commander said today.
The academic, who has campaigned for greater understanding of gipsy culture, is accused with Enachi of using a supposedly charitable organisation called Roma Concern to help coordinate the fraud.
The Ministry of Defence has been accused of ordering a “truth blackout” over the war in Afghanistan amid warnings it is attempting to “bury bad news” during the election campaign.
A British soldier has been killed in an explosion while on foot patrol in Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence said today.
The UN's authority would have been ''severely dented'' if Britain and the US had not followed through threats to Saddam Hussein with military action, Foreign Secretary David Miliband has told the Iraq inquiry.
An investigation into the finances of a Bolton Labour party is under way amid claims that thousands of pounds is missing from its election pot.
After 13 years in power let's look at what New Labour have managed to do :- Ballot Boxes have been interfered with. Voting registers have gone missing. You can be put in prison for 42 days just on suspicion. Your children are monitored at school by political officers. Your children's behaviour is logged on a state database for their entire lives.
Viewers of television programmes such as Crimewatch, Waking the Dead and Cold Case could be forgiven for believing that DNA is integral to solving almost every grisly crime.
The number of youths taken to court for gun crimes in London rose sharply last year amid a surge in offences involving murder and robbery, Met figures show.
Senior scientists at the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology (WITG) has rejected the Global Warming Theory and told that the Himalayas are quite safer zone on earth, where Global Warming has no role in controlling the conditions.
If you are driving a car (say an unrepaired Toyota) and it suddenly surges up to very high speeds, then runs out of gas, it may be true that the first 100 metres after the tank goes dry are the fastest 100 metres the car has ever travelled. It does not follow, though, that the car is still accelerating dangerously. Or at all.
Britain’s worst winter in 30 years has contributed to a sharp rise in potholes with the number increasing by 60 per cent over the past two years.
It is increasingly clear that the leak of the internal emails and documents of the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia in November has done for the climate change debate what the Pentagon Papers did for the Vietnam war debate 40 years ago—changed the narrative decisively.
Now being told to learn English could be " offensive." Judge Julian Hall made the remark as he sentenced Wei Cai, a businesswoman, for ramming her husband's car through a fence off a busy street.
Fresh questions are being raised about Alex Salmond’s Government and the lobbying of television channels for political benefit as the ‘cash for programmes’ row deepened last night.
Rioters armed with machetes have slaughtered more than 500 people in a revenge attack following religious clashes near Nigeria's city of Jos. The violence in three mostly Christian villages appeared to be reprisal attacks following the January unrest in Jos - when most of the victims were Muslims.
Banks rescued by the British taxpayer are still handing executives “enormous bonuses” and pressurising staff to extend “unsuitable” credit to customers, an inquiry by senior MPs has concluded.
Taxpayers face paying millions of pounds in extra benefits to Eastern European immigrants because of changes to EU regulations. For the past seven years, immigrants from eight countries due to become full members of the EU were banned from claiming benefits in the UK until they had worked here for 12 months.
The Minister in charge of protecting Britain’s borders has admitted that his own child’s education has been affected by Labour’s immigration policies.
I most sincerely want to thank the UAF and Weyman Bennet for the UAF demonstration outside the House of Lords on Friday when they protested against the visit of Geert Wilders.
A fundamentalist group which believes in sharia law, jihad and creating an "Islamic social and political order" in Britain arranged an "unprecedented mobilisation" of voters for the former London mayor, Ken Livingstone, at the last mayoral election.
Tory leader David Cameron signalled a shift in strategy last night by indicating that election candidates will be allowed to use the word “immigration” on campaign leaflets.
Gordon Brown was accused last night of ‘breathtaking cynicism’ after appearing to exploit the murder of a shopkeeper to drum up support for Labour. The Prime Minister named Gurmail Singh in an article under his name, published in the murdered man’s local paper, which promised that the Government would ‘continue’ to cut crime.
It will hardly be news to anyone that our education system has been heavily infiltrated by communists and fellow travellers masquerading as “socialists”, “liberals” or “progressives” — one need look no further than the National Union of Teachers (NUT) to find such; however, how many parents actually know what their kids are being taught or where the emphasis is placed in such teaching?
David Cameron has twice refused to be interviewed by me, once for this newspaper and once for a TV programme I made about him for Channel Four.
In the latest development in his campaign to show how dramatically the Tories have changed, David Cameron has published the party’s first-ever official list of openly gay MPs.
In June 2007 Rajendra Pachauri, the chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), gave an interview to an Indian publication that appeared in five parts.
It has come to our attention, that last Monday (March 1), Dr. Phil Jones, head of the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia (CRU), in a hearing with the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee made a statement in regards to the alleged non-availability for disclosure of Swedish climate data.
The United Nations (UN) set up the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC); now a leaked briefing document reveals that the UN is basing its roadmap leading to “global governance” – a term many regard as an euphemism for World Government – on the discredited, if not fraudulent, findings of this body.
According to recently disclosed e-mails from a National Academies of Science listserv, prominent climate scientists affiliated with the U.S. National Academies of Science have been planning a public campaign to paper over the damaged reputation of global warming alarmism.
This firm is on the Legal Services Commission Multi-Party Action Panel and should be regarded as a Government stooge. Why has the Law Society so helpful to crooked solicitors?
The White House is seeking to block a controversial US bill branding the mass slaughter of Armenians by Ottoman Turks in World War One as genocide.
Neither of the main parties seems to have any idea how we are to meet the looming shortfall in power, warns Christopher Booker. As the election approaches, two issues should transcend all others.
Paranoid town hall bosses are abusing anti-terror laws to spy on their colleagues. They are using laws designed to catch terrorists to open private emails, film parking attendants and monitor bin men.
Labour was accused of 'rank hypocrisy' last night over non-doms after Harriet Harman refused to answer questions about her party's major donors. The deputy leader refused to say whether some of Labour's biggest backers paid all their taxes in the UK, insisting it was a 'private matter'.
The European Union is planning to create a new super-prosecutor who would have powers to bring cases against British citizens without the approval of the Crown Prosecution Service or the Government.
Britain’s biggest trade union is accused of “taking over the Labour Party” after making £11million in donations. Unite is said to wield great influence over Gordon Brown and the Government’s policies in return for financial support and the votes of its 2million members.
The face of the nation has yet to recover from the recession: on our high streets, the vacant stores stare gloomily back, gaps in a mouth full of rotting teeth. But it's not just the vacancies that are such a depressant for the high-street shopper: it's the shops that are still going. Or at least, one shop in particular.
When will people learn that the EU is not for us? Meddling Brussels bureaucrats want to clobber hard-pressed British taxpayers with a green tax on petrol, coal and natural gas.
The heavily-criticised Snatch Land Rover is to be replaced with 200 new patrol vehicles in Afghanistan to protect troops from booby-traps, it was revealed as Gordon Brown paid a surprise visit to the war-torn country.
Former prime minister Sir John Major today accused Gordon Brown of using British troops as a "party political prop" on a surprise visit to Afghanistan - as the deaths of two more British soldiers were announced.
West Midlands MEP Nikki Sinclaire has been expelled from the UK Independence Party after refusing to be part of a multi-national group it has joined in the European Parliament.
Europe's chief bureaucrat last night provoked fury after threatening to use the “full force” of the Lisbon Treaty to impose economic control over every EU nation.
It could almost be a battle from Greece's ancient past - a melee of fighting at close quarters with shields, raised weapons and flags. But this was the scene in Athens yesterday as riot police clashed with protesters outraged by cutbacks designed to slash the country's huge budget deficit.
Schools are not teaching British values to children because of the failure of Labour’s citizenship courses, a new report reveals.
Plans that could lead to the closure of hundreds of hospital wards are being drawn up but will not be made public until after the general election, opposition parties have said.
Hard-up taxpayers are handing over almost £1million a month to lawyers who make vain attempts to get a better deal for criminals.
Labour's women MPs last night demanded that taxpayers should pay for their childcare - worth up to £18,000-a-year. They claim that they have to find around £12,000 for the childcare itself, £1,000 for accountancy fees, £1,000 for cleaning and £500 for furniture and maintenance.
A man of 22 died in agony of dehydration after three days in a leading teaching hospital. Kane Gorny was so desperate for a drink that he rang police to beg for their help.
The news of the shipping trapped by ice in the Baltic could not have come at a worse time for the warmists.
The Guardian just published a report about a text published by the Met Office: Met Office analysis reveals 'clear fingerprints' of man-made climate change In fact, there are two articles in the Guardian that "know" in advance that the Met Office will "strengthen" the case for human-induced climate change: the witches and prophets told them. The second article has a title that unmasks what is the real motivation behind the Met Office report:
Saturday 13th March 2010
Home Office chiefs were last night accused of pandering to Islam after it was revealed that they handed out a staggering 15 times more funding to a Muslim police support group than to its Christian equivalent.
A furious backlash followed revelations that the Christian Police Association received just £15,000 over the past five years while the National Association of Muslim Police was paid £90,000 in the past two years alone.
The newly released figures revealed that the CPA received an average of £3,000 a year, while the NAMP received £45,000 a year, despite both organisations having around 2,000 members.
The information was released by Home Secretary Alan Johnson after a written parliamentary question from his shadow Chris Grayling.
Don Axcell, executive director of the CPA, said repeated requests for additional funding had been ignored.
And he disputed the figures the Home Office released, saying the sum they had received was even less.
“The only money we received was £10,000 in 2009,” he said. “We have applied for more funding but have either been turned down or ignored.”
Last night Christian groups reacted with anger after learning of the difference in Home Office funding. Alan Craig, leader of the Christian Peoples Alliance, said the move was “yet another sign of discrimination” against Christian groups in the UK.
Mr Craig, a councillor in the London borough of Newham, added: “Christians are constantly marginalised and discriminated against by the Government, who are ignoring one of this country’s principal faiths.”
The money was awarded as general funding or for specific projects. The NAMP received general funding of £90,000 over the past two years, £45,000 from 2008/9 and another £45,000 from 2009/10. The CPA was given general funding of £5,000 in 2004/5 and £10,000 in 2009/10.
The NAMP was formed in July 2007 and hit the headlines in January this year after it said the Government’s anti-terrorism strategy “stigmatised” Muslims.
President Zaheer Ahmed said the money was carefully regulated. “We do not get it in a lump sum. It comes every quarter and we do not get the next instalment unless the Home Office is satisfied our accounts are in order.”
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Britain national debt is fast heading towards £1.4trillion and, this year, the Treasury expects to borrow £178billion.
The markets are in a febrile state and - should drastic action not to be taken to reduce the deficit immediately after the election - investors are expected to pummel the already weak pound.
So what is the latest response of the Government which did so much to get us into this mess?
On Thursday, in a quite extraordinary intervention, Treasury Chief Secretary Liam Byrne said there would be no new tax rises to pay back our horrendous national debt.
Now it is being revealed that, having found itself £3billion less in debt than expected, the Treasury plans to blow this money on pre-election Budget bribes.
In many ways, this Budget is an irrelevance, so close to an election which may render its contents redundant.
But the Chancellor's overall message will be crucial in defining the choice faced by the electorate.
Does it want a Tory Party which, while vague on detail, is honest about the need to make spending cuts to ensure Britain's long-term economic health.
Or a Labour Party which is living in cloud cuckoo land or - worse - is prepared to cynically deceive voters about tax rises and cuts which are inevitable whoever wins the election and, if fudged, will condemn the country to decades of poverty.
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Peers accused of milking tens of thousands in expenses will escape criminal charges after a change in the rules left prosecutors at war with Parliament.
Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer said Labour's Baroness Uddin will not face prosecution thanks to a last-minute change in the guidelines on second homes.
He declared that it was 'absurd' for the Lords authorities to claim the move had not scuppered the case against her.
The 50-year-old peer had been accused of wrongly designating a flat in Kent as her main home - even though neighbours said she was never there - so she could claim overnight allowances payable to peers living outside London.
The claims of several peers have been called into question over recent months. Peers with homes in London have variously claimed their main address is a Welsh or Cornish holiday home, a rarely used flat in Bath, a property in Normandy, converted stables or a parent's house.
But it has emerged that there was no definition of 'main address' in any of the guidance to peers - meaning they were free to nominate any property they like.
Then, in guidance produced only last month, the Clerk of the Parliament Michael Pownall, a senior Lords official, suggested that visiting a property once a month was enough to qualify.
The move was agreed by the House Committee chaired by Speaker Baroness Hayman.
Mr Starmer could barely disguise his frustration as he explained that the rule change meant he could not authorise charges against Lady Uddin.
He said the guidance would inevitably have been seized on by defence lawyers.
Critics said it meant that no peers accused of abusing their second home expenses would face justice in the courts.
- 'Cosy stitch-up' means Uddin is off the hook
- Peer faces Lords' inquiry after avoiding charges
A Tory spokesman said: 'It is outrageous that peers are able to use this loophole to avoid prosecution. We strongly support moves to tighten the rules as soon as possible.'
Former social worker Lady Uddin was accused of falsely claiming £100,000 in allowances - far more than the total allegedly obtained by three Labour MPs who appeared in court this week.
The complaint was that she claimed a flat in Maidstone as her 'main home' when in fact she lived in east London.
Police obtained evidence from neighbours and from water, gas and electric companies supplying the flat in Maidstone. Last night they said privately they were astonished that she had escaped prosecution.
Yvonne Adams, who has lived next to the flat for three years, said: 'I can't emphasise enough how no one has lived there. I know that for a fact. There has never been a stick of furniture in there.'
Before Mr Starmer's announcement, many Westminster pundits had speculated that Lady Uddin would face criminal charges.
Lady Uddin - a married mother of five born in Bangladesh - is not yet completely out of the woods. Her case is to be investigated by a House of Lords sub-committee chaired by former MI5 director general Lady Manningham-Buller.
In a brief statement, Lady Uddin said she was relieved her ordeal had finally ended, adding: 'I only wish now to say thank you to everyone who supported me through a very difficult time.'
Juliet Samuel, of the anti-sleaze campaign group the Sunlight Centre, said: 'The Lords authorities are active accomplices in the crime of expenses rip-offs.
'Parliament's dismal lack of progress in cleaning up the second chamber is disgraceful, second only to the Lords' shamelessness in milking the system for all it is worth.'
Getting off scot-free, Baroness and ten other cheating Lords
The announcement that Baroness Uddin will not face prosecution for fiddling her expenses means a string of peers will escape censure for their own claims.
Here we list ten whose claims
will face no further police investigation
Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe, LABOUR
Pocketed more than £140,000 of overnight subsistence allowance in seven years by claiming for his mortgage-free house in Brighton instead of his £700,000 townhouse in Battersea, South London
Viscount Falkland, LIBDEM
Hereditary peer registered a twobed house owned by his wife's aunt near Maidstone in Kent as his main residence, paid no rent but spends most of his time at £500,000 townhouse in Clapham, South London
Lord Rosser, LABOUR
Received £50,000 in overnight subsistence allowances since buying a flat in Chippenham, Wiltshire, in 2007 and 'flipping' his main residence from £750,000 four-bedroom home in Uxbridge, West London
Baroness Neuberger, LABOUR
Claimed £80,000 overnight subsistence allowances in five years by designating £237,000 flat in Leamington Spa instead of family's £2.3million townhouse in Regent's Park, central London
Lord Taylor of Warwick, TORY
The peer, pictured below, claimed £70,000 over six years by saying his main residence was his dead mother's house in Solihull - which had been sold - then his nephew's friend's house in Oxford, all while living in family
home in Ealing, West London
Baroness Goudie of Roundwood, LABOUR
Claimed £150,000 over eight years by saying her main residence is a Glasgow flat she bought for £200,000 in 2001, not the £1.5million mews house in Belgravia she shares with her husband
Lord Paul, LABOUR
Claimed £38,000 in less than two years by telling the Lords his main residence was the one-bed manager's flat attached to a hotel owned by one of his companies in Chesterton, Oxfordshire, not his central London family home
Lord Sheldon, LABOUR
Claimed £130,000 over six years. Despite living in a mortgage-free £1.3million flat in central London, he told authorities his main residence was a house in Manchester, which he in fact gave to his son in 2003
Lord Bhatia, LABOUR
Claimed more than £20,000 in two years by flipping main residence from £1.5million family home in south London to a two-bed rented flat in Reigate, Surrey, occupied by his brother
Lord Clarke of Hampstead, LABOUR
Admitted he had claimed up to £18,000 a year despite often staying with friends for free or going back to his home in St Albans, Hertfordshire
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Britons arrested in Europe will not have the right to demand a full translation of the charges they are facing, under proposals supported by the government.
Britain has backed plans to "dilute" the rights of its citizens when extradited or caught up in criminal proceedings in other European countries.
Justice campaigners say anyone facing criminal allegations abroad under a European Arrest Warrant will be hit by the plan.
The Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe has accused Britain of pushing for procedures that do not provide proper protection for suspects.
The CCBE, which represents one million European lawyers, is concerned because the right to translation has been limited to only "essential" documents – a "formula which is too vague and open to abuse".
Under EU legislation, British courts must allow a European Arrest Warrant extradition to take place even if there are concerns about the standards of justice in the country that they are being sent to.
Fair trial campaigners say people will be deported to countries such as Portugal, Hungary, Greece and Bulgaria where charges are made and trials held without an English translation allowing them to follow proceedings.
The European Commission had proposed measures to ensure suspects must be shown a translation of all relevant documents.
Viviane Reding, the European justice commissioner, said: "You cannot have a fair trial if the accused does not understand the language of the proceedings. EU citizens should never feel that their rights are weakened because they left home. Nonetheless, this is what can happen when people are sent abroad to stand trial."
But in a letter, seen by The Daily Telegraph, Britain has joined a group of 13 other governments which are trying to dilute the legislation.
Britain has also supported a loophole that would allow a suspect to give up his rights without a lawyer present and without any written evidence, a move that could easily allow police officers to ignore the translation requirements altogether.
Catherine Heard, Policy Officer at Fair Trials International, said: "Under Europe's fast-track extradition system, we are expected to send our citizens across Europe to face trial without asking too many questions.
"As things stand, there is no guarantee that they will be treated fairly and our cases at FTI demonstrate that many aren't. Until reforms are introduced giving suspects basic rights like access to a lawyer and an interpreter, we will see many more cases of injustice."
A British government spokesman denied the watered-down proposals fall below EU human rights standards. "It is only a proposal and negotiations are not yet over," he said.
A new EU-Britain borders agreement that enters into force next month means that the number of people sent to face justice overseas will treble.
Under Schengen Information II rules anyone who has a European Arrest Warrant issued against them will be automatically taken into custody.
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Woman adult film maker joins the Pervert Party
She had her first film aired in 1999 on UK porn channel Television X and has made over 250 scenes. To date her films are of a clear pornographic intent including threesomes, bisexual, group sex and gang bangs.
So far, she has been a staunch advocate of all things blue. The first woman in Britain to direct adult films revealed yesterday, however, that her political colours are of a different hue.
Anna Arrowsmith, hailed in some quarters as a champion of 'female-friendly porn', has been chosen as a Liberal Democrat candidate in the General Election.
Explaining why she wanted to be an MP, the 38-year-old - whose films include Where's The Rent Boys? (sic) - said she was 'disgusted' by the MPs' expenses scandal and believes women are under-represented in Parliament.
Mrs Arrowsmith, who is fighting Tory Adam Holloway's seat of Gravesham in Kent, said: 'I am not a professional politician, I have worked all my life to set up a successful business and I want to fight for the rights of people in Gravesham.'
A quick glance through the titles of her 300 or so films may suggest she has used them to address some of the major challenges facing Britain today.
Hug A Hoodie, for example, could pass as a David Cameron sound bite about disaffected youths.
And another - its title unsuitable for a family newspaper - tackles the frustrations of buxom matrons in the NHS.
Arrowsmith, who works in porn under the pseudonym Anna Span, is managing director of adult film company Easy on the Eye.
She began shooting porn films after graduating from Central St Martins School of Art with a degree in Fine Art (Film & Video) in 1998.
Named best director in the 2008 and 2009 UK Adult Film and Television Awards, she says she became involved in porn to make it more accessible to women. She has also written a book for couples about how to make porn at home.
'I would say to the people of Gravesham, don't judge me by the industry as a whole,' she said.
'I have gone into the porn industry with a view to changing it and making it more female friendly.
'In this day and age, people who live in a democratic society should be able to choose what they want to watch.
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A Man and a youth were arrested after trouble outside a Dewsbury school this week.
Tuesday's disturbance at the gates of Thornhill Community Science College followed fighting in the playground the day before when a 14-year-old girl was taken to hospital with a suspected broken nose.
She was allegedly involved in a scrap with a boy – also 14 – and another boy who tried to intervene was also hurt.
Parents have claimed this was the latest in a string of altercations between Asian and white pupils – with problems coming from both sides.
The school was accused of 'brushing the problem under the carpet'.
Some parents were said to have kept their children at home later in the week for fear of further violence.
One parent said: "There is an ongoing problem at the school. There have been a number of incidents."
Another mother said people needed to know what was going on at the school.
It is understood the 14-year-old girl was white and the boy was Asian.
A police spokesman said officers were to the school at 11am on Monday after reports of a between a 14-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy.
He said the girl was taken to hospital with minor injuries and enquiries were ongoing.
Tuesday's trouble erupted shortly before 1pm when police were called after reports that a number of males were causing a disturbance outside the school gates.
A 20-year-old man and a 16-year-old boy were arrested on suspicion of racially-aggravated public order offences and were bailed pending further enquiries.
The school's headteacher David Powell was unavailable for comment. (Surprise surprise)
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A high street fast food chain says it is meeting with a council of Mosques to reassure the organisation of its halal status.
Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) says it is certified by the Halal Food Authority (HFA).
The food authority’s logo is displayed on the doors of the stores. According to the company website the chain has gone halal in the following Northwest stores: Accrington, Blackburn, Colne, Burnley, Dewsbury, Manchester Fort Store, Rochdale Kingsway, Preston Deepdale and Elk Mill, Manchester (Drive Thru).
And to ensure there is no cross-contamination no pork products are being served in the halal stores.
The HFA is the largest food certification body in the UK and certifies thousands of shops, butchers and stores across the UK. However, this month the Lancashire Council of Mosques sent a letter out to mosques.
In it it stated that its Halal Sub Group, was ‘inundated’ with calls regarding the Halal trial being conducted by KFC. The LCM says it is now using the Halal Monitoring Committee (HMC) criteria as it’s benchmark.
Just over 300 businesses in the UK are certified by the HMC which claims to take a more proactive approach in ensuring food is halal.
However, it has come in for criticism from some companies concerning the extra charges they want for the HMC certificate and their criteria.
The LCM statement read, "Upon researching KFC`S website, it is apparent that the chickens are stunned before slaughter.
“This issue is of great concern to us because the Halal Criterion, adopted by LCM after wide consultation, does not allow stunning and this conforms to British law.
“The Sub Group is concerned whether there is a thorough certification process in place throughout the supply chain of KFC and whether the independent monitoring mechanism is effective.
“With the above in mind, the LCM Halal sub group has requested an urgent meeting with the representatives of the Lancashire branches of KFC together with the Halal manager from KFC Headquarters.
“Meanwhile, LCM recommends the Muslim community to exercise caution and remain vigilant.”
The LCM said it would allow people to make their own minds up and would NOT say any non HMC food was therefore haram.
A spokesperson for KFC said, “We have replied to the many requests for halal restaurants by introducing a halal trial at a number of stores across the country, which includes some of our restaurants in Lancashire.
“The trial is accredited by the Halal Food Authority which is recognised both in the UK and by the World Halal Council.
“We buy our chicken from reputable suppliers who have been audited and accredited by the HFA to ensure that their systems and processes fully comply with halal requirements, including the recital of a verse from the Qu’ran by an appropriate person.”
We contacted the HFA who refused to comment.
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A Trawden woman has spoken of her disgust at an international fast food outlet choosing to serve only halal meat at its Colne premises.
The woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, joins a growing number of objectors on Facebook, where more than 1,500 have supported the group "No Halal at Colne KFC".
The store, on North Valley Retail Park, is one of 74 KFC outlets nationwide to be chosen for a halal trial. Those in Burnley, Accrington and Blackburn are also taking part in the trial.
On its website, KFC states: "For some time, we have received requests to provide halal food in parts of the UK, and as a result of this we are running a halal trial within communities where we anticipate a strong demand for halal products."
For the chicken to be halal accredited, the animal is stunned and a verse recited from the Qur'an at the point of slaughter.
But for the restaurant to be certified halal, all products served there have to be halal, which takes away people's choice, claims the Trawden resident. She said: "I think to have halal forced on us and to not have a choice is wrong. They are saying the food is blessed, but that is not my religion.
"They have also taken out all their pork and bacon products, as it is against Islam to eat pig. Surely this is discriminating against people who do eat pig in this country.
"There are animal rights in this country which people fought long and hard for. I am not racist, but I strongly object to this being forced on us."
However, Nina Arnott, a KFC spokesman, said the company was working closely with animal welfare organisations to ensure it keeps standards high.
She added: "We are sorry this customer feels worried, but would like to reassure her we are still using exactly the same ingredients and exactly the same great tasting chicken as before, while also working closely with animal welfare organisations to ensure we remain committed to our same high standards of animal welfare.
"For some time, we have had requests to provide halal food in some parts of the UK, and in Colne the restaurant is one of those taking part in our trial."
KFC says the trial will involve evaluating customer feedback and the commercial success of the trial to establish if it is something it will continue with.
See Also:
A School has become the first non-Islamic primary in Britain to get strict accreditation for serving Halal food, it emerged yesterday.
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Man made carbon emissions are staving off a new ice age, says a leading environmental scientist.
Climate-change expert Dr James Lovelock says the greenhouse gases that have warmed the planet are likely to prevent a big freeze that could last millions of years.
In a talk at London’s Science Museum Dr Lovelock said the balance of nature was in charge of the environment.
He said: “We’re just fiddling around. It is worth thinking that what we are doing in creating all these carbon emissions, far from being something frightful, is stopping the onset of a new ice age.
“If we hadn’t appeared on the earth, it would be due to go through another ice age and we can look at our part as holding that up.
“I hate all this business about feeling guilty about what we’re doing.
“We’re not guilty, we never intended to pump CO2 into the atmosphere, it’s just something we did.”
Dr Lovelock’s comments come in the wake of the scandal at the University of East Anglia where leaked emails suggested climate change data had been manipulated.
The 90-year-old British scientist, who has worked for Nasa and paved the way for the detection of man-made aerosol and refrigerant gases in the atmosphere, called for greater caution in climate research.
He compared the recent controversy to the “wildly inaccurate” early work on aerosol gases and their alleged role in depletion of the ozone layer.
He said: “Quite often, observations done by hand are accurate but all the theoretical stuff in between tends to be very dodgy and I think they are seeing this with climate change. We haven’t learned the lessons of the ozone-hole debate. It’s important to know just how much you have got to be careful.”
According to Dr Lovelock’s Gaia theory, the earth is capable of curing itself. “A planet that is effectively alive can regulate itself and its composition and climate,” he said.
Thomas Crowley, professor of geoscience at Edinburgh University, responded: “People have thought about the possibility of an ice age but it wouldn’t be for many thousands of years.
“Dr Lovelock might be right in the abstract but this does not necessarily mean that CO2 is good now.”
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Green Arrow - Green Arrow & Friends
Dominic Carman is the Liberal Democrat candidate who will be standing against the chairman of the British National Party, Nick Griffin MEP, in Barking come the General Election. A more detailed article will be produced shortly about just what sort of arrogant rat Dominic Carman is but meanwhile, this is a response to the lies Carman has published over on the Liberal Democrat Voice.
Now Carman has given several reasons already for standing against the BNP and we will return to those later but first let us deal with Carman's allegations about the insane bomber David Copeland and the British National Party. Carman writes the following;
Copeland said in his police statement: “If you’ve read the Turner Diaries, you know there’ll be an uprising, racial violence on the streets. My aim was political – to cause a racial war in this country. There’d be a backlash from the ethnic minorities, then all the white people will go out and vote BNP.”
Now let us not muck about here. Copeland was one sick individual whose fragile mind had been shattered by the changes he saw taking place to his country.
Reading prophetic books like the Turner Diaries and Camp of the Saints, both with a fairly accurate assessment of our current situation, would not have reassured him that is for sure. But hundreds of thousands of people have read those books without turning to violence. Copeland was a lone wolf and one sick person who needed help as well as locking up.
But where Carman is duplictious, is where he trys to portray Copeland as being a typical BNP "member", which is clearly not true as Copeland said himself when interviewed:
“It was funny to hear that people are arguing about me being a member of the BNP. I must admit that I was a member for a few months and didn’t take it seriously. I went to a few meetings …”
In a formal report by the psychiatrist at Broadmoor, prepared prior to Copeland’s trial, it is observed that: “He went to some of its [the BNP’s] meetings but did not like their adherence to democracy.”
Copeland left the BNP some 8 months later. Over 14 months were then to elapse before Copeland joined the extremist National Socialist Movement (NSM), and a further 4 months before beginning his bombing campaign in London.
But Carmans next statement must surely border on the litigious
Griffin is not legally guilty of incitement to murder. But morally, Griffin has blood on his hands. He may not have taped nails on the bomb, or put explosives in the container, but Griffin and the BNP helped light a deadly fuse in Copeland’s mind.
Nick Griffin did not "light a deadly fuse in Copeland's mind". That fuse was lit by the politicians who deliberately flooded Our Country with immigrants from all over the world. They are the fuse lighters with not just the blood of Copeland's tragic victims on their hands but also the blood of all those British People who have been raped, assaulted and murdered since those evil politicians opened the floodgates to third world immigration in order to cling onto power and change the demographics of Our Land.
Further Reading. Searchlight and David Copeland
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Teachers should not be banned from being members of the British National Party or any other organisation which promotes racism, a report has suggested.
The review was commissioned by the government seven months ago after 15 teachers were identified as BNP members in a leaked list.
Report author Maurice Smith, a former chief inspector of schools, said barring school staff from joining such organisations would be a 'disproportionate response' and a 'profound political act'.
He stated such a moved would be 'taking a very large sledgehammer to crack a minuscule nut'.
Police and prison service staff are barred from being members of the BNP.
BNP leader Nick Griffin welcomed the report, saying schools should be 'fountains of learning' rather than 'indoctrination centres'.
'All teachers should, however, keep their politics strictly separate from the classroom,' he said.
'Several cases have come to light in recent times where Left-wing teachers have been exposed promoting their own brand of politically correct politics in the classroom, with no action being taken by educational authorities.
'This is clearly wrong and should not be tolerated.'
Schools Secretary Ed Balls welcomed the review but said the idea of bringing in a ban would be kept under 'active review' with annual reporting on the issue.
But in a move which is set to infuriate independent schools he said he had asked for an investigation into that sector which will be published in September.
Mr Smith's report highlighted public concern which he said was focused on independent schools staffed by unqualified teachers. Continued
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Green Arrow - Green Arrow & Friends
A government review has concluded that in the light of only four teachers and two governors having been identified as belonging to the British National Party since 2003, teachers in taxpayer funded schools should not be banned from joining the British National Party.
Rest assured the government would have banned them if they thought they could have got away with it.
Predictably the perverts, paedophiles and marxists in the largest teachers' union NASUWT, have come out spitting and their general secretary, Chris Keats goes on about child protection.
"The idea that a person who signs up to membership of the BNP can simply leave these beliefs at the school gate and behave as a 'professional' when they walk into school is risible,"
"A principled stand was required. This is a matter of social justice, staff well-being and child protection."
Supporting the perverts, Unisons general secretary Dave Prentis said;
"Schools should be at the forefront of promoting racial equality, not places where BNP members can spread their message of hate to impressionable young people."
Amazing how they worry that our children might be taught by a British Patriot but do not worry about the paedophiles teaching them and showing seven year olds videos like the one below and written about by John of Gwent.
And neither does it seem that they worry about the EU schools handing this sick rubbish out.
"Fathers do not devote enough attention to the clitoris and vagina of their daughters. Their caresses too seldom pertain to these regions, while this is the only way the girls can develop a sense of pride in their sex,"
And who can forget the Dianne Abbott Rap Crap that they teach in some schools in London. If that is not political brainwashing I do not know what is.
As well as not worrying about the paedophiles teaching our children, the unions neither seem to care about the vicious sadists posing as teachers who like to tell young children in their care that they are going to be removed from their homes and put into care.
A group of stunned primary schoolchildren began crying when their teacher told them during a bizarre Holocaust game that they were to be taken away from their families.
The pupils, aged 11, became upset after a number of them were segregated and told they were being sent away or might end up in an orphanage.
And these unions stay silent but have the nerve to object to heterosexual teachers and patriots teaching children. Shame on all decent teachers who belong to Unison and NASUWT and pay contributions to these Unions of Perverts, Paedophiles and Sadists.
Recommended Reading: Teachers Union is 'Terrified' of the BNP
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Do you want to know why the 'BNP teachers should be allowed to teach' non-story has been all over the media all day ?
Because its a smokescreen.
Do you remember on 911 when the Labour spin doctor Jo Moore did the following ;
At 2:55pm BST (9:55am EDT) on 11 September 2001, after both World Trade Center towers had been hit in the attacks, but before either tower had collapsed, Moore sent an email to the press office of her department which read:
It's now a very good day to get out anything we want to bury. Councillors' expenses?
Thats how sick and cynical the politicians and media are - they work together to usurp and destroy truth and democracy.
The BNP Non-Story went out today to cover this story ;
" Private schools lashed out today after Schools Secretary Ed Balls ordered a new inquiry into alleged racist teaching of their pupils.
Mr Balls commissioned the review amid fears that fee-paying schools lack the safeguards of the state sector and can more easily hire unqualified teachers.
It has been alleged that privately-run Islamic schools in London and Slough have been infiltrated by religious extremists Hizb-ut-Tahrir. Former chief inspector of schools Maurice Smith will conduct the inquiry and must complete his report by September."
This is the story that the BNP Non-Story sought to hide - the story about proscribed ISLAMIST TERRORIST groups linked with terrorism both here in the UK and around the world have built power bases in private fee paying schools in order to indoctrinate children.
Whilst the liberal wan**rs in the middle class media go into a swoon on the news, in their columns and on their radio shows about the BNP - the real story is hidden beneath the non-story.
Terrorists are teaching in private schools.
But the story is about the BNP.
They must think we are suckers.
And yet the lemmings in the public are still unable to see the reality of the system they live under.
They still believe in the media.
They still believe the media lies.
They no longer believe in god, in the devil or in scientific realities like pharamcogenomics and the fact of racial differences or in the fact that multi-culturalism is a failed ideology predicated on falsehoods as revealed by the new science of Cultural Neuro-science.
Yet they still believe the bullshit that the media peddle them.
Go figure.
I blame the education system.
One of the fundamental duties of the education system is to teach children how to critique and understand the media, so they can understand when propaganda is being used to manipulate them.
The international corporate media abuse their power to create a pernicious and false social consensus in Britain in order to get their political parties elected.
Therefore the media must be regulated by government to ensure that it serves democracy, rather than a pseudo-'democracy' being simply a product of the media.
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Membership applications to join the British National Party are now again open despite the state’s best efforts to subvert the party and democracy, Nick Griffin MEP has announced.
Speaking after the conclusion of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) court case today, Mr Griffin said the court had in effect ruled that political parties could not ask its members to endorse policies which oppose mass immigration.
“The court ruled that sections 3.2.1 and 3.2.3 of the BNP’s new constitution could not be set as conditions for membership of the party as they would discriminate against ethnics,” Mr Griffin said.
Section 3.2.1 of the BNP’s new constitution reads as follows:
Our party is a party of British Nationalism, both ethnic and civic, and we are committed to the principle of national sovereignty in all our British Homeland affairs and of self determination and sovereignty in all Indigenous British affairs.
We are pledged to the continued creation, fostering, maintenance and existence of the unity and of the integrity of the Indigenous British and of the government of the countries of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and of Eire, which together, and as further expanded in Schedule 1 (“Interpretation Rules”), are referred to in this, our constitution, as our “British Homeland.”
Section 3.2.3 reads as follows:
We are pledged to stemming and reversing the immigration into our British Homeland that has, without the express consent of the Indigenous British, taken place since 1948, and to restoring and maintaining, by legal changes, negotiation and consent, the Indigenous British as the overwhelming majority in the make-up of the population and expression of culture in each part of our British Homeland.
“The court has ruled that these clauses, which are part of the membership conditions as stated in section 4 of the constitution, makes it impossible for ethnics to join the BNP,” Mr Griffin said.
“We, of course, disagree with the court’s opinion.
“There is no correlation between being opposed to mass immigration and the opening of membership of the party,” Mr Griffin said, adding that he knew members of ethnic minorities who were just as opposed to mass immigration as any indigenous British member of the party.
“Section 3 of the BNP constitution is protected and cannot be changed except by an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) of the party,” Mr Griffin went on.
“The new constitution grants the party’s leader the power to change all non-protected parts of that document to comply with the law, without the need for EGMs.
“Section 4, which deals with the requirements for membership and includes the demand that members support all the principles of the party, is not protected.
“I have, therefore, with immediate effect changed the section 4 requirements, as I am entitled to do, to comply with the court order,” Mr Griffin continued.
“What this means is that people can apply to join the BNP without having to endorse and support the principles of the party.
“Everyone knows this is a mad situation, and it has set an astonishing and extremely dangerous precedent for all parties.
“It is a complete subversion of democracy and is in reality an attempt by the state to order the citizenry what policies they can or cannot believe in.
“The bottom line is that the BNP’s policies remain exactly as they were, particularly the demand for an end to mass immigration.
“I have changed the non-write protected constitution to comply with the court order and the amended version will be published online well within the 30 days set our constitution.
“Membership applications are therefore are now open and the 7000-strong backlog will be processed in the order in which they applied,” Mr Griffin said, adding that any ethnic who had applied to join the party would wait in turn like anyone else to have their applications processed.
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The British National Party in Lincolnshire aims to field at least six parliamentary candidates — out of the seven seats in the region — it was announced at the latest meeting of the Boston, Holbeach and Spalding group.
Organiser Anthony Williams said that the South Holland area had provided the best BNP vote during the Euro elections and that this had laid the basis for a good result in the upcoming general election.
Prospective parliamentary candidate for Sleaford and Hykeham, Councillor Mike Clayton, briefly addressed the meeting on the loss of Britain’s sovereignty since the implementation of the Lisbon Treaty.
“We now face the final destruction of Britain unless we make a stand now,” Cllr Clayton said.
Guest speaker for the night was Reverend Robert West, who is also the party’s candidate in Lincoln.
“There is so much wrong with Britain,” Rev West said.
“I think Lincoln is right up there along with the rest of the country in having concerns about family values, the lack of discipline in schools and the massive rise in crime.
“This is partly to do with immigration but also due to a collapse in values in this country. I think the Bishop of Lincoln is a character who needs to be challenged to stand up for Christianity more because he’s not doing enough.”
An appeal raised £160 towards election costs; several new activists were recruited and another potential candidate came forward.
“This means that we are able to fight six of the seven seats,” Cllr Clayton said. “Anyone wanting to help fund a candidate for the last remaining seat, Gainsborough, West Lindsey, is urged to contact us via email on eastmids@bnp.org.uk,” he added.
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The warmist response to Climategate — the discovery of the thoroughly corrupt practices of the Climate Research Unit (CRU) — was that the tainted CRU dataset was just one of four independent data sets. You know. So really there’s no big deal.
Thanks to a FOIA request, the document production of which I am presently plowing through — and before that, thanks to the great work of Steve McIntyre, and particularly in their recent, comprehensive work, Joseph D’Aleo and Anthony Watts — we know that NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) passed no one’s test for credibility. Not even NASA’s.
In fact, CRU’s former head, Phil Jones, even told his buddies that while people may think his dataset — which required all of those “fudge factors” (their words) — is troubled, “GISS is inferior” to CRU.
NASA’s temperature data is so woeful that James Hansen’s colleague Reto Ruedy told the USA Today weather editor:
“My recommendation to you is to continue using … CRU data for the global mean [temperatures]. … “What we do is accurate enough” — left unspoken: for government work — “[but] we have no intention to compete with either of the other two organizations in what they do best.”
To reiterate, NASA’s temperature data is worse than the Climategate temperature data. According to NASA.
And apparently, although these points were never stressed publicly before, NASA GISS is just “basically a modeling group forced into rudimentary analysis of global observed data.” But now, however, NASA GISS “happily [combines the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) data] and Hadley Center’s data” for the purpose of evaluating NASA’s models.
So — Climategate’s CRU was just “one of four organizations worldwide that have independently compiled thermometer measurements of local temperatures from around the world to reconstruct the history of average global surface temperature.”
But one of the three remaining sets is not credible either, and definitely not independent.
Two down, two to go.
Reto Ruedy refers his inquiring (ok, credulous) reporter to NCDC — the third of the four data sets — as being the gold standard for U.S. temperatures.
But NCDC has been thoroughly debunked elsewhere — Joseph D’Aleo and Anthony Watts have found NCDC completely incredible, having made a practice out of not including cooler temperature stations over time, exaggerating the warming illusion.
Three out of the four temperature datasets stink, with corroboration from the alarmists. Second-sourced, no less.
Anyone know if Japan has a FOIA?
Christopher Horner is a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute.
Friday 12th March 2010
More than £750million of taxpayers’ money has been spent on providing homes for asylum seekers over the past four years, Whitehall figures revealed last night.
The huge sum lavished on council houses and other social homes for the families of foreign nationals claiming asylum here was disclosed in statistics released by the Home Office.
And the expenditure on accommodating claimants has been handed out while around 1.8million people – largely British-born – are languishing on waiting lists for council houses.
The latest figures, released in response to a Parliamentary Written Question from Tory frontbencher Grant Shapps, showed a total of £752million has been paid by the Home Office to social housing organisations since 2006. The figures show that £51.1million was paid to Glasgow City Council to provide homes for asylum seekers over the period.
Liverpool City Council was paid £14.3million, Nottingham City Council was paid £19million and Cardiff City Council was paid £14.5million.
Millions more were paid by the Home Office to housing associations and private property firms including Clearsprings, Angel Group and United Property Management.
Last night, angry critics said the figures were a massive blow to Gordon Brown’s pledge to put local families at the front of the queue for public services. Mr Shapps, Shadow Minister for Housing, said: “Gordon Brown’s pledge of British homes for British families has been exposed as an utter sham.
“We wouldn’t be running the risk of straining community relations had this Government not spent 13 years failing to build the homes we need.”
Matthew Elliott, of campaign group the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “The asylum system is clearly flawed, and lets down both taxpayers and asylum seekers alike.
“For a start, the time taken to process applications is far too long, meaning that by the time many cases are rejected the claimants have already run up a large bill for accommodation.
“Even when a case is approved, the default policy seems to be to place people on benefits for the long term, whereas we should be helping and encouraging everyone to learn English and get work.”
Separate Home Office figures showed that there were more than 24,000 asylum seeker families living in council accommodation at the end of last year.
Expenditure on social housing for asylum seekers has nearly doubled from around £132million in 2007-08 to £230million last year.
Immigration minister Phil Woolas said: “It is an absolute priority that accommodation for asylum seekers provides taxpayers value for money.
“The Government is determined to reduce asylum costs, which is why support levels have halved in the past six years.”
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Ministers were yesterday urged to “seriously consider’’ banning burkhas in public as a Conservative MP became the first mainstream British politician to back the idea.
Philip Hollobone told the Commons: “This is Britain. We are not a Muslim country. Covering your face in public is strange and to many people both intimidating and offensive.”
Wearing the full-face burkha was “oppressive and regressive’’ to the advancement of women, he told a Commons debate to mark this week’s International Women’s Day.
It was not until recently when he took his children to a park in his Kettering constituency and saw a woman wearing one that “it came home how inappropriate and offensive it is for people to wear this apparel in the 21st century”.
Mr Hollobone added: “In my view, and the view of my constituents, wearing the burkha is not an acceptable form of dress and the banning of it should be seriously considered.’’
By wearing them women effectively said they wanted no “normal human dialogue or interaction with anyone else ... and that our society is so objectionable we aren’t even allowed to cast a glance upon them’’.
He said: “It goes against the British way of life. If we all went around wearing burkhas, our country would be a very sad place.’’
A similar ban has been backed by the UK Independence Party.
Opinion polls show strong support in Britain for restricting the wearing of burkhas, for example in banks and airports, although there is less support for a ban in all public places and no demands for an outright ban.
After the Commons debate, Mr Hollobone told the Daily Express he spoke out after being “bowled over’’ by the positive response he received from the public after he previously questioned the wearing of burkhas.
He said: “This is not an anti- Muslim or anti-religious thing, and it’s not about veils which cover only the head or neck.
“It’s about covering your face in public, which is something we normally associate with people attending controversial trials or motorcyclists or burglars.
“It is not a religious requirement and it is banned in some Muslim countries such as Turkey and Tunisia. Yet it is an increasingly common sight in Britain and it is making us feel like strangers in our own land.’’
Earlier in the Commons debate, Pakistan-born Labour MP Mohammad Sarwar told MPs: “I think that’s the women’s choice. Yes, there should be action taken against those who are forcing women to wear hijabs. But I don’t think it’s a big issue in this country and I don’t think there’s a need for this to be debated.’’
Solicitor General Vera Baird, winding up the debate, said she did not agree with Mr Hollobone.
Last month Justice Secretary Jack Straw, who stirred controversy in 2006 when he revealed he asked Muslim constituents to remove their veils at his advice surgeries, said: “I would prefer if people didn’t wear a burkha but you can’t ban it.’’ He also warned that a ban would waste police time.
Burkhas are worn by an estimated 100,000 of the 2.4 million Muslims in this country.
Earlier this year, an inquiry by French MPs concluded that the veils should be banned on public transport and in buildings such as hospitals and schools in France, but they stopped short of backing a ban on wearing them in the street.
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"He warned that a ''perverse situation'' could arise where the armed forces were fighting for people in foreign countries to have the vote but could not cast a ballot themselves."
Gordon Brown has been asked for assurances that service personnel overseas will be able to vote in the coming General Election.
During Prime Minister's Questions, Richard Benyon, a Tory MP and former soldier, said postal trials by the Army Families Federation had revealed limitations in the current arrangements.
He warned that a ''perverse situation'' could arise where the armed forces were fighting for people in foreign countries to have the vote but could not cast a ballot themselves.
''It is unlikely that the vast majority of our armed forces serving overseas will be able to vote in the coming election,'' Mr Benyon said.
''Will you intervene to ensure that we don't have the perverse situation that we have people fighting abroad for others to have the right to vote but we are denying that right (to them).''
Mr Brown said Justice Secretary Jack Straw was making the ''best arrangements possible'' to ensure service personnel overseas would be able to cast their vote.
And he said: ''It is absolutely right that everyone should have the chance to cast their vote in every election.''
Members of the armed forces are able to register as a ''service voter'', linking them to a fixed address in the UK for three years to allow flexibility when posted overseas.
Those abroad on election day can apply to vote by post or proxy, though the Electoral Commission recommends service personnel to appoint a proxy.
The body's website says: ''If you're based abroad, you need to be aware that, due to election timetables, you may not receive your ballot paper until shortly before election day.
''Depending on where you're based, there may not be enough time for you to return your ballot before voting closes (10pm on election day), so voting by post may not be the best way for you to vote.
''In these circumstances we would encourage you to appoint a proxy in the UK to vote on your behalf.''
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Gordon Brown is anxious to avoid an election based on his record because it is so hard to defend.
Whatever you think of Gordon Brown (and this newspaper has made no secret of its differences with the Prime Minister and his Government on many issues), you have to admire his resilience, and his brass neck.
Here is a leader who has faced down at least three serious attempts from within his own party to turf him from office, who has presided over the most serious recession since the Second World War, and whose personal ratings in the polls are historically poor (though improving); he should be dead and buried, yet he remains in the game.
Yesterday's announcement that the Budget will be held on March 24, presaging an election almost certainly on May 6, has quickened the electoral pulse. The likelihood of a Conservative victory remains strong; but the prospect of a tight race and a hung parliament is a real one.
In a speech in the City yesterday, trailed as one of great import but largely devoid of any credible recovery policy, Mr Brown invited the country to trust him to see it through the economic storms. He wished to be judged on his character. While his stamina and determination to remain in office cannot be faulted, his greatest flaw is an unwillingness to accept any responsibility when things go wrong, whether they be economic, social or military.
He tried to convince his audience that he was not someone who told people what they wanted to hear, but what they needed to know; and yet for many months, when it was apparent that the country was getting deeper into debt, he refused to acknowledge that cuts in spending were inevitable.
This past week he has failed to concede what soldiers and military chiefs have said to be true: that the Army was not properly equipped to fight the war in Afghanistan, even if it now is.
The fact is that after 13 years in power, Labour has forfeited the right to say that things can only get better.
Mr Brown is anxious to avoid an election based on his record because it is hard to defend. In particular, he blames global events for Britain's economic woes, when his own failures as Chancellor to keep some of the revenues from the good times to help us through the bad reflect his hubristic belief that boom and bust had been abolished, a claim he is no longer in a position to make.
Of course voters need to consider which party has the best programme for the next five years and beyond; but they are also entitled to ask whether the party that has brought the country to the brink of bankruptcy deserves yet another chance.
Reader Submitted Link. Thank You D
Comment:
The entire liblabcon is avoiding the real issues, while presenting the voters with sideshows, gimmicks and diversions.
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A Judge sparked fury yesterday after insisting a group of travellers who “invaded” a picturesque village should be given a postcode.
If the code is granted they will be eligible to claim thousands of pounds in state handouts.
The travellers who have 30 caravans on the site at Hardhorn, near Poulton, Lancs, argued in court that they needed a postcode to help fire and ambulance crews find them if there was an emergency.
More than 70 of them set up camp on a field after turning up in the middle of the night last November in what villagers described as a “military operation”.
Since then they have been accused of causing trouble and being “terrible neighbours”.
But when council officials went to court to stop the group laying hardcore foundations to make the site more permanent, they were told to “use their best endeavours” to help them get a postcode for the land.
Judge Nigel Howarth’s ruling at Blackpool County Court means they could use the postcode to apply for benefits, plus utilities including gas, electricity and water.
Neighbouring residents whose homes once featured on BBC gardeners’ World reacted angrily after Fylde council failed to convince the judge not to grant the travellers’ request.
The group is now applying for planning permission to stay on the field permanently and proposes to add utility buildings, cesspools, fencing and hard standings. Parish councillor Maxine Chew said: “The locals are very upset at what the judge has done. If these people had been good neighbours then we would have been happy to accommodate them but the fact is they have been terrible neighbours.
“The site is a terrible mess. Their dogs are forever barking and they have generators running all night.
“Villagers have complained about them poaching rabbits and roaming all over their land then harassing them when told to behave.
“Surely if someone is homeless and turns up at a council office looking for somewhere to stay they are not offered the area where they desire to live? So why should these people get a postcode when they have simply moved in without warning and set up camp and started building?
“It just seems the courts are encouraged by the Government to be sympathetic to their situation.”
The field once belonged to a neighbouring farm but is thought to have been sold to a travelling family from West Yorkshire.
The group of 30 adults and up to 40 children – mainly from Irish and Scottish families – moved in on a Friday after council offices had shut and immediately began laying foundations, using spotlights to work through the night.
Villagers have since complained about noise, road safety and a potential drop in house prices.
One said he and his wife had not been able to sleep due to noise from the site.
Mrs Chew said: “They seemed to have chosen their time and moved in before anyone could do anything about it.
“The police came but said they were powerless to do anything because they had not committed a criminal offence.” In January council lawyers were granted an injunction banning the travelers from bringing more caravans on to the land but allowing them to bring water to the site and to use power generators.
The group has also been banned from ripping up hedges and dumping waste.
One traveller at the camp said: yesterday: “We had nowhere to live and the council had no place to put us so we bought this site.
“We have 30 kids here and people with medical problems. We don’t want to cause trouble or be a burden to the local community.”
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Britain is the worst country in which to raise children, while Australia is the best, a study has found.
The survey of expatriates living in six different countries found there was a better standard of living Down Under, and a better quality of family life.
A massive 78 per cent of children who moved there from countries such as the UK spent more time outdoors than they did before, and the majority ate more healthily.
In comparison, foreign children who moved to Britain were more likely to become lazy and inactive.
A third of parents who have moved here said their children watched more TV than they did before and 27 per cent saw an increase in the amount of time spent playing video games.
Overall, Britain was also branded the most difficult country to move to. Schools were found to be less welcoming, and it was difficult to arrange child care.
A massive 45 per cent of parents said the quality of their family life had decreased since moving to the UK - just 16 per cent noticed an improvement, according to the survey commissioned by HSBC.
Britain was rated the lowest of the six countries examined. The list, from best to worst, read Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, United Arab Emirates, the U.S. and the UK.
The results bode well for Leah Wood, 31, who recently emigrated to Sydney with her Australian husband Jack MacDonald and their nine-month- old daughter Maggie.
Miss Wood, the daughter of Rolling Stone Ronnie said she wanted a 'fresh start'. She said: 'My husband is Australian and I love the lifestyle and the pureness of this city. It's really easy to be organic here. I want the best for my little Maggie.'
An HSBC spokesman said: 'When you're talking to an expat community you're obviously talking to people with a varied degree of experience in terms of different countries.
'The key centres around childcare and education... they were the things that were really highlighted. The UK has scored lower than some of the other countries in those respects.'
But Britain did rank highly in terms of cultural integration, with 83 per cent saying they were able to adapt to UK living 'well' or 'really well'.
The spokesman said: 'The UK is a great place to be able to dip into a number of different cultural experiences.'
The Offshore Offspring report, commissioned by HSBC, examined children's integration, health and well-being by questioning 3,100 expats from 50 nations living in the six countries.
In 2008, emigration from recession-hit Britain reached a record level with 427,000 people leaving, up from 341,000 in 2007, according to the Office for National Statistics.
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Police are failing to visit tens of thousands of families whose lives are made a misery by louts, inspectors have warned.
Chief Inspector of Constabulary Denis O'Connor added that half of forces may also fail to spot a Fiona Pilkington-style tragedy developing.
Miss Pilkington killed herself and her disabled daughter after a gang taunted them for ten years despite a series of desperate calls to the police.
In a blistering analysis, Mr O'Connor revealed officers do not visit 23 per cent of victims who complain about anti-social behaviour.
He also said the true number of anti-social behaviour incidents could be twice as high as the 3.6million estimated by the Government in 2008-9.
It came amid the release of an explosive Home Office-backed report suggesting thousands of police jobs could be axed to save money.
They would be replaced with civilian staff such as controversial community support officers.
One internal paper has suggested the number of police to be axed could be as high as 28,000.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling, who unearthed the 'police modernisation report', accused Labour of 'rank hypocrisy' after its election leaflets said police officer numbers would not fall.
He added: 'Now it turns out that they have been privately working on plans that will lead to big reductions in the number of police officers.'
Critics fear that if the number of officers is slashed, victims of thugs will have even less chance of being visited by the police.
Mr O'Connor's assessment of the police found more than half of forces do not have IT systems in place which can spot repeated reports of anti-social behaviour.
He likened loutish behaviour - the target of Labour 's Respect campaign - to a 'disease' and urged police to 'take it seriously'.
The inability of police to identify a repeat victim is particularly alarming given the Pilkington case.
The desperate mother called 999 on 33 separate occasions from her home in Leicestershire, but police failed to link or prioritise the cries for help.
Mr O'Connor said the police systems for dealing with antisocial behaviour were ' inadequate' and should be improved as a 'matter of urgency'.
'Over half cannot identify repeat victims via automatic IT systems and rely on manual trawls,' said Mr O'Connor.
'Almost all forces are unable to automatically identify victims who have previously been deemed vulnerable.'
The report on 'police modernisation' was produced for the National Policing Improvement Agency quango, and was sanctioned by the Home Office.
It was presented to a conference attended by Police Minister David Hanson yesterday, and suggests making 'financial savings' through 'the introduction of new roles and through staffing these roles with police staff rather than officers'.
The report adds: 'WFM [ workforce modernisation] aims to increase capacity by changing the balance between police officers and police staff and increasing frontline strength, while reducing costs.'
In a statement, Mr Hanson last night said: 'It is vital police forces make the best use of the historically high levels of funding in the service. Getting the right blend of staff can help the efficiency drive by freeing-up officers to spend more time at the frontline.
The final decision on the best mix of staff and officers rightly rests with chief constables, and this report will be important in informing their judgment.'
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A man with learning difficulties was 'tormented to death' during 17 years of abuse by feral children.
David Askew died on his doorstep during a confrontation with yobs.
Police had been in regular contact with him, but had failed to halt what had become a daily routine of bullying against the man the gangs nicknamed 'Dopey Dave'.
His death came on the eve of a damning report criticising forces for not tackling the misery caused by street gangs.
Mr Askew had gone outside to tackle a group who had broken down his gate and were interfering with his elderly mother's mobility scooter when he collapsed and died of a suspected heart attack.
Children as young as eight had subjected the 64-year-old to years of unrelenting abuse.
Last night neighbours said they were in no doubt the campaign of bullying led to his death and blamed police and the local council for failing to do enough to protect him.
Police said they had been in almost daily contact with Mr Askew, his 89-year-old mother Rose and brother Brian, 67, at their home Hattersley, near Hyde, Greater Manchester.
But they admitted their actions had resulted in just one teenager being given an Asbo and another escaping prosecution by apologising for smashing windows. No arrests have been made over the death on Wednesday evening.
Mrs Askew yesterday described her son as 'a very happy person' who was 'kind and thoughtful'.
She said: 'He was a true gentleman and would often help me around the house and with shopping. He wouldn't hurt a fly and he never saw bad in anyone. He always put others first.'
Mr Askew, described by neighbours as a harmless oddball with a mental age of eight, was first targeted in the mid-1990s.
Hooded youths from nearby estates began taunting him and throwing stones when he walked to the shops and shouting names at him when he was home, locals said.
Police fitted CCTV cameras at his house, but the attacks soon started up again led by the previous bullies' younger brothers. Neighbour Avona Davies, 49, said: 'They tormented David for money and cigarettes. They harassed him every night without fail.
'We have stopped complaining for about 12 months because nothing gets done. Sometimes it would be two of them, others it would be six kids or a big gang.
'David would throw money and cigarettes into our garden to get rid of them but they would always go back.
'David's windows were smashed lots of times because they would throw stuff. They hounded them.'
Dean Darkson, 19, said: 'They bullied him relentlessly and we believe he died of fright because of all the trouble he had been getting.'
Another neighbour said: 'They always knew he would retaliate. It is tragic - like bear baiting - tormented to death.'
The details emerged on the day a national report by the Inspectorate of Constabulary found officers did not turn up to 23 per cent of antisocial behaviour complaints.
Chief Inspector of Constabulary Denis O'Connor said forces' performance was 'inadequate' with more than half unable to identify repeat victims.
This left officers ignorant of some of the most vulnerable people, often the disabled.
The issue was highlighted by the death of Fiona Pilkington, who called 999 on 33 occasions, only for police in Leicestershire to fail to link or prioritise the cries for help.
Driven to despair, she took her life and that of her disabled daughter Francecca Hardwick.
Chief Superintendent Zoe Hamilton, of Greater Manchester Police, said of Mr Askew's death: 'One of our community beat managers has been meeting with David's mum almost daily to provide assistance, even going so far as to helping them clean the house, arrange for a stairlift to be installed and for David to be taken on day trips once a week.'
Last night Mrs Askew said the force had given the family all the support they could.
'We have had regular contact with the local beat officers and they often pop by to see how we are doing,' she said.
But Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling said: 'Just how many of these tragic cases are we going to have to see before this government and the police adopt a proper zero tolerance approach to antisocial behaviour?'
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The grim truth about Labour’s education policy was laid bare yesterday after it emerged the number of schools branded “inadequate” more than doubled in just six months.
Ofsted inspectors classed one in 10 in the lowest category last autumn compared to one in 25 in the previous inspection. And the number of “outstanding” state schools in England plummeted, from 19 per cent to 9 per cent. Overall, less than half the 2,140 schools were judged better than “satisfactory” in the four-tier system.
The schools watchdog battled to deflect criticism, arguing a new “tougher” inspection regime meant yesterday’s figures could not be compared with the past.
Children’s Secretary Ed Balls said he made “no apology” for Ofsted “raising the bar”. But experts described the change as “moving the goalposts”.
Conservative Shadow Education Secretary Michael Gove said the culture of Government-set targets was “skewing” headteachers’ priorities.
Chief schools inspector Christine Gilbert said yesterday: “The new inspections have been designed to help schools improve.”
But teachers’ unions slammed Ofsted’s claims that it had “raised” inspection standards. Chris Keates, of NASUWT, said: “What Ofsted has done yet again is to move the goalposts.”
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A controversial plan to build a mosque with two 100ft minarets next to Sandhurst has been scrapped to the jubilation of thousands of residents.
The £3million building would have had a clear view over the military academy and is just 400 yards from its parade ground - prompting fears it could be a security threat.
A listed Victorian school building was set to be demolished to make way for the huge Saudi Arabian-style building.
More than 6,500 residents signed a petition to oppose the application because of fears it would change the Victorian character of the area.
The proposal for the mosque in Camberley, Surrey, has finally been rejected by the local council at a public meeting - to cheers of joy from residents.
Hundreds had lined the streets outside to protest against the mosque, waving placards which said 'Camberley Says No!' and 'Hands off Our Heritage! We Want Justice!'
Planning papers showed that the massive structure would have towered over local buildings.
As well as the two minarets, it would have featured a large central dome, five smaller outlying domes, a morgue, a library and a separate worship area for women.
It would have overlooked Sandhurst where hundreds of newly-commissioned Army officers take to the parade ground each year for the academy's passing out ceremony.
The event attracts senior members of the Royal Family, including the Queen when her grandson Prince Harry was commissioned in 2006.
The gigantic mosque was the idea of the Bengali Welfare Association, which worships at the al-Kharafi Islamic Centre in Camberley. The Victorian school, built in the 1860s, has been used as an Islamic Centre since 1996.
The plans for a new mosque were originally approved by Surrey Heath Borough Council's planning committee earlier this year, but overturned on a technicality. On Wednesday night they finally backtracked after massive public opposition.
A special council meeting had to be held at the Camberley Theatre because of the volume of interest.
Residents queued from 9.30am to make sure they got into the meeting, which started at 7pm. More than a thousand people sat inside the hall, while more residents who could not get in waited outside for the verdict.
All but two of the 36 councillors voted to refuse the planning application - a decision which was greeted with cheers both in and outside the theatre.
David Chesneau, chairman of the Camberley Society, said: 'This was definitely the right result. They were thinking of knocking down a listed building. A mosque in its place would not have preserved or enhanced the Victorian and Edwardian character of the area.'
John Dixon, a 60-year-old roofing contractor, queued for a place in the audience from 9.30am.
He said: 'The school is a listed building in a local area and it is part of the community's heritage. They had permission to extend and refurbish the building but that was not enough. They wanted to destroy our heritage.'
Gill Mathews, an animal rescuer, said she had 'suffered abuse' for her opposition of the plans.
She said: 'I have been accused of being a racist. But I don't hate Muslims. I have no objection to there being a mosque in the area - just not there.'
Nigel Farage, Ukip MEP for the South East region said: 'This is the right result for the people of Camberley, the initial planning application should have been thrown out as the building in question is listed and is sited in a conservation area.
'This was never about religion, but about the fair and just process that applies to everyone no matter what faith or belief.'
Regular at the mosque Ahmed Soliman, 35, a restaurant owner, was disappointed the plans had not gone through.
He said: 'At the moment it is not a real mosque for the Muslim community. The building is falling apart. When it rains, the water comes through the roof.'
Last month the Daily Mail revealed army generals were against the plans.
An Army source said: 'There is a very real concern that if this thing gets built, then soldiers could be put at risk.
'It is outrageous to even think that the officers of the future would have to watch their backs while they are still in training.'
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Freedom arrived earlier than expected for smoking ban martyr Nick Hogan yesterday... courtesy of a briefcase full of cash carried by a man in a green Guy Fawkes mask.
Former pub landlord Mr Hogan became the first person to be jailed in connection with the smoking ban when he was sentenced to six months for refusing to pay a fine imposed for flouting the legislation.
His plight inspired a campaign on the internet to raise funds to pay off his outstanding fines.
It reached its climax yesterday (national no-smoking day, no less) when a mysterious blogger called Old Holborn delivered the money to Forest Bank prison in Salford - 11 days into Mr Hogan's sentence.
The arrival of the self-styled ' libertarian vigilante' at the Category B prison in his mask, full black costume and hat left other visitors amused or bewildered.
In the prison car park, Old Holborn, who wore his costume to hide his identity, flipped open the metal case to reveal enough bundles of used fivers and tenners to pay the £8,445.15 needed to secure 43-year-old Mr Hogan's release.
Old Holborn - who says he is named after his mother's birthplace in London rather than the well-known tobacco, told reporters: 'I'm here to free a man in prison under an unjust law.
'I represent the blogospshere and these funds have been donated by more than a thousand people from all over the world.'
Then off he marched into the jail. Mr Hogan walked free one hour and 20 minutes after Old Holborn handed over the cash. There to greet him was his wife Denise, who is also a publican.
Two years ago the married father of two, from Chorley, Lancashire, became the first landlord convicted of breaking the law for allowing his customers to routinely light up in his bars. A judge fined him £3,000 and ordered him to pay £7,236 in costs.
But Mr Hogan, who at one stage ran two pubs in Bolton, refused to pay the fine and was repeatedly hauled back before the courts until he was finally jailed last month at Bolton Crown Court.
The total needed to secure his release was reduced because of the number of days he had served in prison.
Mr Hogan thanked everyone who donated money to free him and said: 'I was devastated to be sent to jail. The smoking ban has cost me my pub, my job and my liberty.
'It's wonderful to know that so many people feel as strongly as I do about the smoking ban and its impact on ordinary working people.'
Lighting up a cigarette, he added: 'Ironically, on my first day in prison I was issued with a packet of tobacco and some cigarette papers - and we could smoke in our cells.'
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Climate change? carbon footprints? What global warming?
Ministerial limousines have driven politicians 2.6 million miles in the last year – a rise of 10 per cent of the previous 12 months, new figures reveal.
The cost of running the Government Car Service has gone up by almost two fifths over the last five years – despite edicts to members of the public to find other ways of travelling than by car.
All ministers are entitled to a car to ferry them on official business and home at night.
The car service cost £14.8 million last year, up from £14 million in 2007-08. Miles travelled rose from 2.4 million to 2.6 million – the equivalent of 11 trips to the moon.
Grant Shapps, the Conservative MP who uncovered the figures said: “At a time when most people were tightening their belts it’s as if ministers have been living on another planet."
He added that the Conservatives are committing to cutting the car poll by a third, if they win the election.
David Cameron, the Conservative leader, has taken his inspiration for the cull from Chris Mullin, the former Labour minister who served under Tony Blair. Mr Mullen decided he wanted to eschew his ministerial car unless it was totally necessary, but came up against a bureaucracy that made it almost impossible.
In Mr Mullin’s diaries he recounts how when he was appointed environment minister he spent a lot of time arguing that he did not need to use an official car. However, he encountered resistance from Whitehall because the system meant drivers were heavily dependent on overtime and also that his own department lost money if he turned down the car.
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THE British National Party will contest Burnham’s seat at the forthcoming General Election, it has been confirmed.
The right-wing party has selected Richard Boyce to contest the Wells constituency seat – which includes Burnham - for the BNP.
Local issues of concern for Mr Boyce will include lack of housing for local residents, the gradual erosion of law and order with an increase in anti-social behaviour, growing unemployment and house-building on our precious green spaces.
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English Democrats are to field a candidate in Bury South to fight the General Election.
Mother-of-three Mrs Valerie Morris has been selected by the party as their prospective Parliamentary candidate for the constituency.
She says she joined the English Democrats because she believes the main political parties are not listening to local people and are not allowing the people of England to have a say on the decisions being made in their name.
Her husband, Stephen, is the party’s North West chairman.
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Fat people are harming the planet by contributing to climate change, according to Sir Jonathan Porritt, the Government's chief green adviser.
Echoing the famous slogan "fat is a feminist issue", Sir Jonathan, Chair of the Sustainable Development Commission, said "fat is a climate change issue".
He pointed out overweight people eat more protein-rich food such as beef or lamb, which is responsible for producing greenhouse gases because of the toxic methane livestock emits. He also said obese people are more likely to use cars rather than walk or cycle, therefore producing more carbon emissions.
The former Green Party politician, who has caused controversy before by suggesting people should not have more than two children to prevent over-population, said the Government should be encouraging people who are above the recommended body mass index to lose weight not only to improve their health but to help the environment.
Almost 1 in 4 adults in England is currently obese, and if trends continue, by 2050, nine in 10 adults will be overweight or obese. BMI is calculated by dividing weight by height squared
He also said it was causing problems for the global environment.
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The British National Party will be standing a full slate of parliamentary candidates in Shropshire at the general election despite never having stood in the county previously, reports West Midlands Deputy Organiser James Whittall.
“With four candidates already selected, it is my pleasure to announce that a fifth, Susan Harwood, had been selected to fight the Wrekin constituency,” Mr Whittall said.
Animal lover Mrs Harwood is a housewife with three children. Speaking to BNP News, Mrs Harwood said she was “very proud to be standing as a candidate and giving the people of the Wrekin seat a chance to vote against the corrupt agenda of the old gang parties.”
The recent arrest of a Muslim paedophile gang in the constituency prompted Mrs Harwood to come forward to point out that British children were now under threat as a result of the immigration invasion.
“The BNP is the only party to openly and honestly address the issue of immigration,” Mrs Harwood said. “It is the issue which is at the forefront of everyone’s mind and only the BNP has the answers to this disaster which threatens the future of our nation.”
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Three Labour MPs accused of expenses fraud pleaded not guilty when they appeared in court for the first time on Thursday.
The MPs, Elliot Morley, David Chaytor and Jim Devine, face charges of theft by false accounting.
Appearing in the dock before City of Westminster Magistrates' Court they told District Judge Timothy Workman they denied any wrongdoing.
Their prosecution, at a court a short distance from Parliament, is the first to result from the Westminster expenses scandal.
All three MPs were released on unconditional bail and ordered to appear at Southwark Crown Court on March 30.
District Judge Workman declined jurisdiction and agreed with an application by the defence for the case to be heard at the Crown Court.
Mr Knowles said the case raised issues of constitutional importance and it was right that it should be tested at the higher court.
The three politicians gathered in a consultation room after the hearing to speak to their legal team.
Ahead of the court appearance new details of the charges against the three MPs and a Tory peer were revealed.
Mr Chaytor, 60, of Todmorden, Lancashire, is accused of providing false information on an allowances form under the Theft Act 1968.
The charge states he falsely claimed rents between September 2005 and August 2006 for 152 Hide Tower, Regency Street, London, from Sarah Elizabeth.
It added he claimed £12,925 by lodging a claim for £1,175 a month in rent when he was in fact the owner of the premises.
A second charge stated that on or about May 19, 2006, he dishonestly filed two invoices for computer IT services worth £975.
The court document added they purported to show the services had been provided in February and March 2006 by Paul France.
A third charge stated that between November 2005 and September 2006 he dishonestly made use of a short-hold tenancy agreement in a claim form.
This showed that between August 2007 and January 2008 he rented Delph Cottage, Castle Street, Summerseat, Bury, from Olive Trickett for £775 a month plus a month deposit.
The charge added that Mrs Trickett was his mother and it was not permissible to lease accommodation from a family member. The total sum claimed was £5,425.
Mr Devine, 56, of West Main Street, Bathgate, West Lothian, is accused of falsely claiming costs for parliamentary duties in March 2009.
The charge sheet alleged he submitted two misleading invoices worth a total of £5,505 for services provided by Armstrong Printing Limited.
A second charge alleged that between July 2008 and May 2009 he dishonestly claimed allowances for repair, insurance or security.
The document alleges he intended to gain by submitting false invoices for services, cleaning and maintenance worth £3,240.
The services were allegedly provided between April 2009 and March 2010 by Tom O'Donnell Hygiene and Cleaning Services.
Mr Morley, 57, of West Street, Winterton, North Lincolnshire, is accused of falsely claiming a furnishing allowance between March 2006 and November 2007.
The charge sheet alleged he submitted a deceptive mortgage application.
This showed £800 mortgage monthly interest was charged by the Cheltenham and Gloucester when in fact the mortgage was paid off. A total overpayment of £16,000 was made.
A second charge alleged that between April 2004 and February 2006 Morley made a further false mortgage interest claim.
Again he is accused of claiming £800 a month, a total overpayment of £14,428.67.
Lord Hanningfield, also known as Paul White, 69, of West Hanningfield, Chelmsford, Essex, faced six charges.
The offences are alleged to have taken place between in March 2006, May 2007, April 2008, July 2008, May 2009 and April 2009.
One charge stated that on or about April 1, 2009, at Westminster, he made a dishonest claim for travelling allowances.
It stated Lord Hanningfield ''purported to show that you were entitled to be paid expenses when the conditions entitled you to payment of such expenses had not been fulfilled''.
The three MPs left court without commenting to journalists.
They got into a waiting black cab accompanied by their lawyers and escorted by police officers.
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Alan and Ann Keen committed a “serious breach” of Commons rules by claiming second home allowances while effectively only having one home, John Lyon, the parliamentary standards commissioner, said this morning.
The couple both claimed public funds for the central London apartment while their house in Brentford – itself just nine miles away from Parliament – was uninhabitable.
MPs are allowed to claim £24,000 a year to cover the cost of running a second home that they need to work in both Westminster and their constituencies.
Until next month this includes those in outer London constituencies such as Mr Keen, who is MP for Feltham & Heston, and Mrs Keen, MP for Brentford & Isleworth.
The couple both told Commons officials that a house in Mrs Keen’s constituency was their “main home” while a £500,000 Thames-side flat was their “second home”.
This allowed them to claim about £250,000 in public funds to cover mortgage interest payments and other costs of living in the flat after they bought it in May 2002.
However, in May 2008 extensive building work began on the house in Brentford, which drastically reduced the amount of time the couple spent there.
The couple say that the building work did not go “according to plan” and in December 2008 they boarded up the house.
They admit that they did not stay there again until October 2009 – by which time the property had been occupied by squatters – yet continued to claim second home allowances for their London flat.
In his report Mr Lyon said: “This is in my view a serious breach of the rules involving significant public funds.”
He described the fact that officials in the Commons fees office told the couple they could continue claiming allowances as a “mitigating factor”.
However he concluded: “Members are responsible for their own actions and I consider that both Members were equally responsible for what I regard as a serious misjudgement.
He said that they should not have claimed allowances for the ten months in which the property was uninhabitable, but chose to focus particularly the four months between June and October 2009 when it was occupied.
His conslusion was also watered down by the Standards and Privileges Committee, the controversial group of MPs that he reports to, which oversee the conduct of their colleagues.
The committee said: “While we would normally agree with the Commissioner on the seriousness of a misjudgment of this kind, in the exceptional circumstances of this case we take a more lenient view.”
It said that the Keens, who have already repaid £2,644, should repay another £1,500 of the money they claimed during the four months in question.
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A fifth Labour MP is being investigated by police over his expenses, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.
The Metropolitan Police has begun a criminal inquiry into Harry Cohen after he claimed more than £70,000 for a “second home” while renting out his main property.
Today, three other MPs, Elliot Morley, David Chaytor and Jim Devine, will appear in court for the first time after being charged last month with multiple offences under the Theft Act.
Detectives are also investigating Eric Illsley, the MP for Barnsley, after he allegedly made “phantom” claims for council tax.
Over the past few weeks, the Met police are understood to have approached the House of Commons authorities seeking documents relating to claims made by Mr Cohen, making him the fifth Labour MP to be the subject of a criminal investigation since The Daily Telegraph exposed the expenses scandal last year.
The Labour MP has already been heavily censured by the parliamentary authorities.
Mr Cohen has not yet been interviewed by officers, it is believed.
Between 2004 and 2009, Mr Cohen told the parliamentary authorities that his main home was in Colchester and his second home in his constituency in Wanstead, east London.
According to House of Commons rules, MPs must spend the majority of their time in their main home if they want to claim expenses for another property.
However, during part of this period – including the entire 2005-06 financial year – Mr Cohen, 60, rented out the Colchester property to tenants. In total, he made a gross income of £27,000 by renting out the house, while living in his second home.
The MP defended the claims by saying that his wife had fallen ill and was unable to travel.
He said that, in order to care for her and attend to constituency business, he had to live most of the time in east London. He said that he always intended to return to his “main home”, adding: “I consider it a home of beauty… I feel that angels reside there.”
In the meantime, he spent thousands of pounds renovating the constituency property, including spending £1,741 on granite kitchen worktops, £3,131 on plastering and £1,470 on decorations. He is now attempting to sell his designated second home for £475,000 — £100,000 more than he paid for it.
John Lyon, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, said that Mr Cohen’s claims represented a “particularly serious breach of the rules”. The MP apologised and said he “would not intentionally have wanted to do anything to tarnish Parliament’s reputation”.
The MP has announced that he will retire at the next election but his “golden” parachute payment of £64,766 will be withheld as punishment for his dubious expense claims.
The decision by the police to investigate an MP already censured by the parliamentary authorities is likely to prove controversial.
Other MPs have argued that it is for Parliament, not the courts, to punish politicians found to have abused their expense claims.
However, a well-placed Whitehall source said: “There is nothing to stop the Metropolitan Police becoming involved in potentially serious cases of abuse. The fact that Cohen has already been punished by some sort of parliamentary quasi court is not an issue which is causing Scotland Yard any problem.”
The Daily Telegraph has learnt that Mr Morley, Mr Chaytor and Mr Devine will today set out their case to have the charges against them thrown out. In the unprecedented appearance before Westminster magistrates, their solicitor will read a statement arguing that they are protected from prosecution by parliamentary privilege. Lord Hanningfield, a Conservative peer, will also appear in court after being charged over his House of Lords claims.
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One was a peer of the realm with an estimated £315million fortune, the other a council engineer.
When the Mercedes-Benz driven by Baron Kirkham of Old Cantley almost collided with Keith Pearce's Fiat Punto, what followed did little to bridge the gap in their social status.
Graham Kirkham, 64, allegedly punched and scratched Mr Pearce in a fit of temper.
The Tory peer, chief executive of the DFS furniture chain, got out of his car moments after the near-miss in the South Yorkshire village of Sprotbrough where he has a home, a court was told.
He is alleged to have approached Mr Pearce shouting and swearing, before attacking him.
Mr Pearce, 50, said the businessman shouted at him: 'What the f****** hell do you think you are doing?'
Lord Kirkham allegedly had both his hands raised 'like claws' and went for the other man's face, pushing his thumbs into his eyes.
Mr Pearce said: 'Momentarily I lost vision. I presume he used his thumbs.
'I had no chance to defend myself. I pushed him away then he attacked me again.'
He said he pushed the peer away once more before he was punched two or three times on the chin and face.
'It was all over in just two or three minutes,' he said.
Mr Pearce grabbed hold of Lord Kirkham's jacket and put his arms around his neck to try and restrain him, only for the peer to start scratching his face.
The two wrestled to the ground and only parted after an onlooker told them to 'pack it in'.
Lord Kirkham then went back to his Mercedes and drove off.
Mr Pearce, of Woodlands, Doncaster, said he was 'shaky and very upset'.
'I was limited to what I could see. There was blood on my face and in my eyes and I was bruised.'
He was treated at Doncaster Royal Infirmary for two black eyes, scratches and bruising.
He later developed back problems, panic attacks and headaches and was forced to cancel a motorcycling holiday, he told Doncaster Crown Court.
He said he had done nothing to provoke the peer and was simply 'protecting myself'.
The incident happened at 7.35am on April 29. The court heard Lord Kirkham had indicated to turn into a side road from which Mr Pearce emerged, but then changed his mind and carried straight on, overtaking and forcing Mr Pearce to stop sharply.
Andrew Dallas, prosecuting, said Lord Kirkham told police it was Mr Pearce who ran at him.
Lord Kirkham claimed he flung his arm out to ward off the attack and was dragged along the ground by the neck.
Mr Pearce reported the matter immediately to police but Lord Kirkham decided against it. He told police: 'It wasn't something I was proud of in any way.'
Hazel Hansford, an eyewitness, said Lord Kirkham 'went berserk in my estimation' as 'the other man was trying to defend himself'.
She added: 'He just went mad attacking the man.'
Jane Harris, another witness, claimed she saw Lord Kirkham lunge towards Mr Pearce as he tried to defend himself.
Mr Dallas said: 'This was a completely senseless piece of violence brought about by some minor road incident which hadn't caused damage to anybody.'
Under cross-examination by Simon Bourne-Arton QC, for Lord Kirkham, Mr Pearce denied exaggerating his case to claim compensation. Lord Kirkham owns the Grade II listed Georgian mansion-Cantley Hall in Doncaster, but lives at Sprotbrough.
He started his business empire in 1969 when he started making furniture above a shop in Carcroft, Doncaster.
His company Northern Upholstery was renamed DFS after he bought out Direct Furnishing Supplies in the 1980s.
Last year he picked up a dividend of more than £46million in DFS share profits and is one of South Yorkshire's richest men with a personal fortune estimated at £315million.
He is a big supporter of the Conservative Party and gave them a £4million interest-free loan in 1996.
He was knighted in the New Year's Honours List and was made a life peer in June 1999.
Mr Pearce denied swearing at Lord Kirkham to trigger the incident.
Lord Kirkham denies assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
The trial continues.
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Rugfish - Green Arrow & Friends
The Telegraph said;
"Muslim Europe: the demographic time bomb transforming our continent"
"The EU is facing an era of vast social change, and few politicians are taking notice"
"Europe's low white birth rate, coupled with faster multiplying migrants, will change fundamentally what we take to mean by European culture and society."
The Full Article was written and produced before Free Speech was banned in Britain and the EU under IMRAX
Since then, no British politician except Mr Nick Griffin MEP, has spoken about these dangers, and despite many other politicians speak about these dangers in Australia, America and Europe, this government, with its adherence to the IMRAX code, REFUSES to tell you the truth about your country, whilst David Cameron himself, a candidate for Ministerial Office, supports the UAF which is permeating LIES and PROPAGANDA about the British National Party and Mr Nick Griffin and has attacked an innocent man with a claw-hammer because he dared to hold a conscience for his country and have the audacity to speak the truth about ISLAM.
The Telegraph Wrote:
Britain and the rest of the European Union are ignoring a demographic time bomb: a recent rush into the EU by migrants, including millions of Muslims, will change the continent beyond recognition over the next two decades, and almost no policy-makers are talking about it.
The numbers are startling. Only 3.2 per cent of Spain's population was foreign-born in 1998. In 2007 it was 13.4 per cent. Europe's Muslim population has more than doubled in the past 30 years and will have doubled again by 2015. In Brussels, the top seven baby boys' names recently were Mohamed, Adam, Rayan, Ayoub, Mehdi, Amine and Hamza.
Europe's low white birth rate, coupled with faster multiplying migrants, will change fundamentally what we take to mean by European culture and society. The altered population mix has far-reaching implications for education, housing, welfare, labour, the arts and everything in between. It could have a critical impact on foreign policy: a study was submitted to the US Air Force on how America's relationship with Europe might evolve. Yet EU officials admit that these issues are not receiving the attention they deserve.
Jerome Vignon, the director for employment and social affairs at the European Commission, said that the focus of those running the EU had been on asylum seekers and the control of migration rather than the integration of those already in the bloc. "It has certainly been underestimated - there is a general rhetoric that social integration of migrants should be given as much importance as monitoring the inflow of migrants." But, he said, the rhetoric had rarely led to policy.
The countries of the EU have long histories of welcoming migrants, but in recent years two significant trends have emerged. Migrants have come increasingly from outside developed economies, and they have come in accelerating numbers.
The growing Muslim population is of particular interest. This is not because Muslims are the only immigrants coming into the EU in large numbers; there are plenty of entrants from all points of the compass. But Muslims represent a particular set of issues beyond the fact that atrocities have been committed in the West in the name of Islam.
America's Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, part of the non-partisan Pew Research Center, said in a report: "These [EU] countries possess deep historical, cultural, religious and linguistic traditions. Injecting hundreds of thousands, and in some cases millions, of people who look, speak and act differently into these settings often makes for a difficult social fit."
How dramatic are the population changes? Everyone is aware that certain neighbourhoods of certain cities in Europe are becoming more Muslim, and that the change is gathering pace. But raw details are hard to come by as the data is sensitive: many countries in the EU do not collect population statistics by religion.
EU numbers on general immigration tell a story on their own. In the latter years of the 20th century, the 27 countries of the EU attracted half a million more people a year than left. "Since 2002, however," the latest EU report says, "net migration into the EU has roughly tripled to between 1.6 million and two million people per year."
The increased pace has made a nonsense of previous forecasts. In 2004 the EU thought its population would decline by 16 million by 2050. Now it thinks it will increase by 10 million by 2060. Britain is expected to become the most populous EU country by 2060, with 77 million inhabitants. Right now it has 20 million fewer people than Germany. Italy's population was expected to fall precipitously; now it is predicted to stay flat.
The study for the US Air Force by Leon Perkowski in 2006 found that there were at least 15 million Muslims in the EU, and possibly as many as 23 million. They are not uniformly distributed, of course. According to the US's Migration Policy Institute, residents of Muslim faith will account for more than 20 per cent of the EU population by 2050 but already do so in a number of cities. Whites will be in a minority in Birmingham by 2026, says Christopher Caldwell, an American journalist, and even sooner in Leicester. Another forecast holds that Muslims could outnumber non-Muslims in France and perhaps in all of western Europe by mid-century. Austria was 90 per cent Catholic in the 20th century but Islam could be the majority religion among Austrians aged under 15 by 2050, says Mr Caldwell.
Projected growth rates are a disputed area. Birth rates can be difficult to predict and migrant numbers can ebb and flow. But Karoly Lorant, a Hungarian economist who wrote a paper for the European Parliament, calculates that Muslims already make up 25 per cent of the population in Marseilles and Rotterdam, 20 per cent in Malmo, 15 per cent in Brussels and Birmingham and 10 per cent in London, Paris and Copenhagen.
Recent polls have tended to show that the feared radicalisation of Europe's Muslims has not occurred. That gives hope that the newcomers will integrate successfully. Nonetheless, second and third generations of Muslims show signs of being harder to integrate than their parents. Policy Exchange, a British study group, found that more than 70 per cent of Muslims over 55 felt that they had as much in common with non-Muslims as Muslims. But this fell to 62 per cent of 16-24 year-olds.
The population changes are stirring unease on the ground. Europeans often tell pollsters that they have had enough immigration, but politicians largely avoid debate.
France banned the wearing of the hijab veil in schools and stopped the wearing of large crosses and the yarmulke too, so making it harder to argue that the law was aimed solely at Muslims. Britain has strengthened its laws on religious hatred. But these are generally isolated pieces of legislation.
Into the void has stepped a resurgent group of extreme-Right political parties, among them the British National Party, which gained two seats at recent elections to the European Parliament. Geert Wilders, the Dutch politician who speaks against Islam and was banned this year from entering Britain, has led opinion polls in Holland.
The Pew Forum identified the mainstream silence in 2005: "The fact that [extreme parties] have risen to prominence at all speaks poorly about the state and quality of the immigration debate. [Scholars] have argued that European elites have yet to fully grapple with the broader issues of race and identity surrounding Muslims and other groups for fear of being seen as politically incorrect."
The starting point should be greater discussion of integration. Does it matter at all? Yes, claims Mr Vignon at the European Commission. Without it, polarisation and ghettoes can result. "It's bad because it creates antagonism. It antagonises poor people against other poor people: people with low educational attainment feel threatened," he says.
The EU says employment rates for non-EU nationals are lower than for nationals, which holds back economic advancement and integration. One important reason for this is a lack of language skills. The Migration Policy Institute says that, in 2007, 28 per cent of children born in England and Wales had at least one foreign-born parent. That rose to 54 per cent in London. Overall in 2008, 14.4 per cent of children in primary schools had a language other than English as their first language.
Muslims, who are a hugely diverse group, have so far shown little inclination to organise politically on lines of race or religion. But that does not mean their voices are being ignored. Germany started to reform its voting laws 10 years ago, granting certain franchise rights to the large Turkish population. It would be odd if that did not alter the country's stance on Turkey's application to join the EU. Mr Perkowski's study says: "Faced with rapidly growing, disenfranchised and increasingly politically empowered Muslim populations within the borders of some of its oldest and strongest allies, the US could be faced with ever stronger challenges to its Middle East foreign policies."
Demography will force politicians to confront these issues sooner rather than later. Recently, some have started to nudge the debate along. Angel Gurría, the OECD secretary-general, said in June: "Migration is not a tap that can be turned on and off at will. We need fair and effective migration and integration policies; policies that work and adjust to both good economic times and bad ones."
rugfish Wrote:
Cameron, you are a Prize Pri#k of the highest order!
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Makes you wonder just how much MPs had spent from the John Lewis list to make them so profitable? Well' Just a thought eh?
John Lewis and Waitrose staff are to be rewarded with bonuses worth nearly eight weeks’ wages after a leap in profits, it was announced yesterday.
The department store and supermarket giant posted a 9.7 per cent rise in profits before tax and bonuses of £306.6million for the year to January 30.
The results mean the firm’s 70,000 employees – called partners – will share a bonus pot of £151.3million with payments of 15 per cent of their salary. John Lewis said the year was one of “profound change” for the group, with the expansion of the Waitrose chain and a resilient performance at the department stores.
Waitrose was the group’s star performer, with profits, before property gains, up 26.8 per cent to £268.2million and on gross revenues up nine per cent to £4.5billion.
Like-for-like sales, excluding petrol, grew 3.6 per cent on a 52-week basis.
Thursday 11th March 2010
Equalities chief Trevor Phillips was accused of contempt of parliament for trying to influence a Commons investigation into his controversial leadership, it emerged yesterday.
MPs and peers complained the £112,000-a-year chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission had approached them to try to influence them ahead of the publication of a report they were writing into his leadership.
Jail or a fine are the maximum penalties that can be imposed on anyone guilty of trying to obstruct the work of parliament.
Mr Phillips could also be forced to make a public apology if the allegations are proved.
He is accused of approaching at least three members of the Joint Committee on Human Rights in advance of its publication of an explosive report into his quango.
His leadership has led to an exodus of senior staff, and accusations of creating a 'culture of intimidation' and playing the 'race card'. He rejects all such criticism.
Committee members were outraged to find out at a meeting on Monday that at least three of them had been approached by Mr Phillips, who was hand-picked for the role by Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman.
Committee chairman Andrew Dismore referred the case to Speaker John Bercow, and an investigation could begin within a fortnight.
A source close to the inquiry said the report would be 'highly critical' but would underscore the attacks that had already been widely aired about Mr Phillips’ running of the commission.
'In all my years in parliament, I have never seen so much unanimity as there has been with this report,' the insider said.
'The people he tried to nobble could have told him to b*gger off but we felt as a matter of principle that this was a serious breach of privilege.'
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Green Arrow & Friends
Let's Roll. Nothing British was set up with the sole purpose of attacking the patriotic British National Party. Their full site title is actually Nothing British about the BNP.
As you can see from their contact address:- 5, The Sanctuary, Opposite Westminster Abbey, London, SW1P 3JS, their offices are located in one of the most exclusive areas in London and are within easy walking distance of the Houses of Parliament - spitting distance in fact.
This prime location, of course, makes it a very convenient place for MPs and other traitors to drop in for "friendly" chats. Hopefully we will soon be able to provide you with images of just who does call into their offices.
The key players behind Nothing British, say that they are a cross party organisation created to attack the British National Party and deny that they are a conservative attack dog. But as you can see from the following videos - and I urge you to watch them, you can see just what sort of slimy liars they really are. Video
Right, at 1.20 in, Nick Griffin MEP BNP, reveals just who James Bethell really is. Bethell responds with the lie at 2.03:
''We are not a tory front.
That is completely untrue''
Ok. Let us leave the lie resting on the table for now as we go to the next video, that again I urge you to watch, if only to see what a Grade A tory slime-ball from Nothing British talks and acts like.
At 3.20 the interviewer asks "Are you a front for the tory party?". Watch Cousins squirm.
Cousins replies with "Absolutely Not. We - although some of us are members of the conservative party."
Interviewer interjects with "Your a member of the conservative party."
Cousins "I am yes."
Interviewer "Tim Montgomery your co sponsor is a member of the conservative party"
Cousins "Yes, yes"
Interviewer "So its entirely run by the conservative party"
Cousins then waffles "No its not."
My experience of life is this. If something walks like a duck, quacks like a duck then it is a duck and on this site it is always Open Season on ducks. So lets go duck hunting.
So just who are the "Names" behind the conservative site Nothing British. This is what they say about themselves. Below you will find what we know about them.
James Bethell, is a Director and co founder of Nothing British who is better known in High Society as the lipless and chinless wonder, the 5th Baron Bethell, who was one of Rupert Murdoch's scabs who helped put 6,000 printers out of work during the Wapping Strike.
Bethell, who tries to portray the Nothing British site as being run by ordinary people is of course ordinary. Ordinary that is, if you come from a wealthy banking family and count people like Rupert Murdoch and the Rothchilds amongst your friends.
Maurice Cousins is the Deputy Editor of Nothing British and is a "British Citizen" who is part of David Cameron's inner circle of "chums" that really runs the conservative party. He is a former researcher for the Searchlight linked Friends of Israel and who worked closely with Douglas Carswell, the MP responsible for The Plan that David Cameron works to and another Friend of Israel.
Maurice also writes for the other conservative site, Conservative Home that until recently employed the paedophile Alister Cooling. Maurice is a war monger and has written over on Conservative Home that the government should be attacking Iran.
Tim Montgomerie. Another Director and founder of Nothing British and responsible for the creation of the ConservativeHome webesite, Montgomerie has been described as "one of the most important Conservative activists of the past 20 years" and is frequently consulted by Conservative Central Office.
Jonathan Dupont.
Jonathan is their tea boy.
This article will be updated on a regular basis and as such is a work in progress. As you can see, their claims that Nothing British is an independent organisation is nothing more than an in your face lie by people worried about the coming changes.
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Sent to her DEATH by the Government
Four soldiers including Cpl Sarah Bryant, the first female to die in Afghanistan, were unlawfully killed after troops were given "inadequate" training, a coroner has ruled.
Wiltshire Coroner David Masters said he would write to the Ministry of Defence to raise concerns about "theatre-wide" equipment shortages and gaps in training which led to the deaths.
"I intend to submit a report to the Ministry of Defence which will take up a number of these issues which this inquest has quite properly canvassed," Mr Masters said at the conclusion of a six-day inquest into the deaths at Trowbridge Town Hall.
Cpl Bryant, 26, and special forces reservists Corporal Sean Robert Reeve, 28, Lance Corporal Richard Larkin, 39, and Private Paul Stout, 31, died when their Snatch Land Rover detonated a roadside bomb hidden in a shallow ditch near Lashkar Gah, Helmand in June 2008.
Following Mr Master's verdict, Cpl Bryant's mother Maureen Feely read a statement in which she said that none of the issues raised in the inquest should detract from her attributes as a soldier.
"Sarah would not have wished to be treated any differently from any other of her colleagues," she said.
"She was a soldier who died with honour. We do not want some of the issues this inquest has raised to detract from Sarah's bravery, dedication and selflessness."
The use of the Snatch Land Rover has long been controversial due to the numbers that have died in them and the inquest heard that it had been nicknamed the "mobile coffin" because of the lack of protection it afforded troops.
The vehicles could not cover soft ground and became stuck in a little water, which restricted the unit to driving along dangerous tracks, witnesses said.
The commanding officer of 23 SAS regiment, the Territorial Army battalion, told the hearing that he had raised concerns about the lack of safer vehicles and was told that he would have to make do as no others were available.
Mr Masters said the commanding officer, named only as Colonel A at the inquest, had wanted the better-armoured WMIK vehicle to replace the Snatch - even though it too might been badly damaged by the "massive" bomb concerned.
"There was a limited pool of vehicles available, a general shortage of vehicles available during that period," said Mr Masters.
"He wanted WMIKs because of the nature of the territory. He put in a request and justified it but he didn't get them. That shortage meant that they were unavailable to him. There was only a finite supply of vehicles to be allocated across the whole brigade."
Major Sebastian Morley, Cpl Bryant's SAS squadron commander in Helmand, later resigned, accusing the Government of being "cavalier at best, criminal at worst" for ill-equipping troops.
Mr Masters heard that shortages of metal detectors meant soldiers had not been shown how to use them before deploying to Afghanistan and were forced to ask an expert on base in Afghanistan how to do so.
An Ebex metal detector became available only four months into the deployment, until which point the soldiers had to scan the ground for improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
One witness told the coroner of his training on the Ebex: "We worked it out ourselves with the use of the manual."
"There was a theatre-wide shortage of that piece of vital equipment," Mr Masters said.
He said that the lack of Ebex meant convoys took longer to move along a route and their slow pace opened them up to increased risk of attack.
"In my judgment there was an inadequacy in training for this unit and its members," he said.
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A School has become the first non-Islamic primary in Britain to get strict accreditation for serving Halal food, it emerged yesterday.
Although it is a non-faith school, 95 per cent of pupils at Daisyfield Primary School in Blackburn, Lancs are Muslim.
In an illustration of the rapidly changing face of Britain, it is the first state, non-Muslim, primary school to get the certificate from the Halal Monitoring Committee.
Although many primary schools in the UK serve Halal meat, they are certified only by the Halal Food Authority.
The Monitoring Committee enforces tougher checks on packaging, delivery and preparation.
Headmaster Peter Fenton, who received the certificate from local councillor Salim Mulla, said: “I am pleased our self-managed kitchen has been recognised as meeting the standards of the Halal Monitoring Committee for purchase, storage and preparation of our meals.”
Moulana Hanif, Halal Monitoring Committee local area representative, said: “I would personally like to thank Daisyfield for taking this very important step towards supplying genuine Halal products to the children attending the school.
“We hope all schools will follow, so that genuine Halal products are provided to Muslim children, which is a very important part of our faith.”
Tory MP David Davies said it was important for Muslim children that their faiths and beliefs were recognised. But he warned: “It is also important that we allow the full integration of immigrants. Concentration of certain ethnic groups in small areas does not help that.”
The ritual method of slaughter practised in Islam has been criticised by some animal welfare organisations who claim it causes severe suffering to the animals as they bleed to death.
In 2003, an independent advisory group – the Farm Animal Welfare Council – concluded the way Halal meat is produced causes severe suffering to animals.
FAWC argued that cattle took up to two minutes to bleed to death under Halal practice. The chairwoman of FAWC at the time, Judy MacArthur Clark, said: “This is a major incision into the animal and to say that it doesn’t suffer is quite ridiculous.”
Halal butchers deny that their method of killing animals is cruel.
Majid Katme, of the Muslim Council of Britain, stressed that it is “a sudden and quick haemorrhage. A quick loss of blood pressure and the brain is instantaneously starved of blood and there is no time to start feeling any pain.”
Daisyfield’s move has provoked anger among some locals. One claim on an internet comment board was that it “forced kids to eat Halal meat”. Another said: “It’s the Islamification of Britain.”
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A School in Blackburn has become the first state school in Britain to receive accreditation for serving Halal food.
Daisyfield Primary is the first non-Muslim school to get the certificate from the Halal Monitoring Committee which enforces strict checks on the killing, preparation, packaging and delivery of animals.
Halal is the ritual method of slaughter practised under Islam and it has been criticised by animal welfare organisations who claim it causes severe suffering to the animals as they are left to bleed to death without pre-stunning.
While campaigners point out that a cow will take up to two minutes to bleed to death under Halal, the Muslim Council of Britain argues that it provides a quick haemorrhage with no time for the animal to feel pain.
This claim has angered the Farm Animal Welfare Council which published a report that concluded the way Halal meat is produced causes severe suffering to animals. It responded “This is a major incision into the animal and to say that it doesn’t suffer is quite ridiculous.”
Daisyfield’s changeover to Halal has upset local residents. One told the local newspaper that the move will force children to eat Halal meat, while another said it was further proof of the Islamification of Britain.
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Halal: Make your own minds up with these 3 videos video1 Here
(Embedding of this video disabled by request)
You will have to visit here to view and you may also be required to log in as the video is very distressing to watch as is the next one which we have just linked to in order to spare distress to younger readers.
Again you may be possibly asked to log in to view
You can visit and view it here
UKT is against all forms of animal cruelty and we call upon the spineless government, RSPCA and the gutless Animal Rights organisation to speak out for those they claim to protect and represent!
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Seven Muslims were arrested in Ireland today over an alleged plot to assassinate a Swedish cartoonist who depicted the Prophet Mohammed with the body of a dog.
Al Qaeda put a $100,000 bounty on the head of cartoonist Lars Vilks after a newspaper published his cartoon in July 2007.
The controversy came less than a year after the furore surrounding the infamous cartoons in a Danish newspaper which sparked death threats against the editor and worldwide protests.
The four men and three women were detained after an investigation involving European security agencies and the United States' CIA and FBI. It is understood that some of those arrested hold Irish citizenship and a number are originally from the Middle East.
They were detained by police in Waterford and Cork in the south of the country for conspiracy to murder Mr Vilks. The men and women arrested range in age from mid-20s to late 40s and can be held for up to seven days.
Mr Vilks, who lives in an isolated area of Sweden, was put under police protection after threats were made against his life. When Al Qaeda put the bounty on the cartoonist's head in 2007 it offered a 50 per cent bonus if Mr Vilks was 'slaughtered like a lamb' by having his throat cut.
Another $50,000 was put on the life of Ulf Johansson, editor-in-chief of Nerikes Allehanda, the local newspaper which printed the cartoon. The Swedish paper had orginally printed the cartoons after they had been banned from being put in display by art galleries for fear of causing offence.
The paper defended its publication of the cartoon, saying it was in defence of free speech. 'This is unacceptable self-censorship,' the newspaper wrote in an editorial referring to the reluctance by galleries to exhibit Vilks's drawings.
'The right to freedom of religion and the right to blaspheme religions go together,' it wrote. However those arrested are not believed to be members of the terrorist group. It understood some have converted to the Muslim faith.The arrests were made at around 10am as officers conducted a number of raids.
Gardai said the operation was supported by members from National Support Services and the Republic's anti-terrorist Special Detective Unit. A Garda spokesman added: 'Throughout the investigation An Garda Siochana has been working closely with law enforcement agencies in the United States and in a number of European countries.'
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Five men linked to a UK terror plot which would cause 'mass casualties' were arrested days before they planned to strike, a court heard today.
A senior British intelligence officer, identified only as ZR, told the Special Immigration Appeals Commission that the group was set to stage an atrocity between April 15 and 20 last year.
He told the hearing that that the alleged plot ringleader Abid Naseer exchanged coded emails with an Al Qaeda operative called Sohaib while planning the attack.
The pair used girls' names to cover their tracks, the officer said.
He told the hearing: 'On the face of it the emails are designed to look, without knowledge of the surrounding context, they're designed to look like correspondence between two people about girls.'
ZR went on: 'I don't assess this to be two young men simply talking about girls. I think it's two people discussing attack planning on behalf of Al Qaeda.'
Naseer and Ahmed Faraz Khan, who are both 23, are appealing against their deportation to Pakistan on the grounds that they are a national security risk.
The pair were held by police as part of Operation Pathway in April last year.
Police and the security services said they were part of a major plot, but there was not enough evidence to charge them with criminal offences.
Another three men - Shoaib Khan, 31, Abdul Wahab Khan, 27, and Tariq Ur Rehman, 38 - have already been sent back to the country and are appealing to return to the UK.
ZR compared the alleged plan to the July 7 2005 attacks and the trans-Atlantic airline bomb plot of 2006, but refused to reveal details of the similarities in open court.
He said: 'The overarching similar fashion was that they were all planning a terrorist attack in the UK under the direction of Al Qaeda and these were aiming for mass casualties.'
The officer went on: 'I'm comfortable that there are similarities between those plots and I'm comfortable to talk about that in closed session.'
Representing Naseer, Joel Bennathan QC said Naseer and Sohaib used women's names because as Muslim men this was the only way they could access certain websites.
The subject of two of the emails was 'Sohaib here', which showed they had nothing to hide, he said.
Mr Bannathan told ZR: 'You know, don't you, that in Pakistan in public, senior figures in the Pakistani government have been saying "these boys are innocent, they should be allowed to carry on with their studies".'
The officer replied: 'The claims that these individuals are not involved in terrorism are wrong.'
MI5 claims that in their emails Naseer, 23, and Sohaib used names of girlfriends to refer to different explosive materials needed for homemade bombs.
They also mentioned a wedding which was in fact the alleged attack, the security service maintains.
Mr Bennathan read excerpts to the court which said: 'Gulnaz sounds OK but she's fond of money and in order to approach her I must find work.'
Another read: 'Fozia is sometimes bulls. She lets you down sometimes.'
He asked ZR how Sohaib would have known what the code words meant, but the officer would not comment.
In other plots members of the terror cell had gone abroad to learn how to make bombs and had amassed the necessary materials weeks in advance, Mr Bennathan told the hearing.
But no bomb-making equipment or ingredients were found in this case and the security services claim Naseer was getting advice via e-mail on how to make a device.
Again, ZR said he could not respond in open court.
The five men were arrested during anti-terror raids in Manchester and Liverpool in April last year.
MI5 was forced to swoop early after Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick accidentally showed secret documents with details of the plan to photographers outside Downing Street.
The hearing was adjourned until tomorrow.
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Outraged parents have hit out at a school in Birmingham after pupils discovered CCTV cameras in the school's toilets.
Youngsters at Grace Academy in Chelmsley Wood claim they returned from half-term to find staff had installed the cameras without notifying them or their parents.
Some parents are furious at what they say is a "total invasion of privacy" and claim some pupils are so anxious about being watched they are refusing to use the facilities.
One mother whose teenage daughter attends the school is concerned the footage could fall into the wrong hands.
She told the Sunday Mercury: "She came home from school and told me security cameras had been installed in the girl's toilets but we didn't know anything about it.
"You would expect the school to have consulted parents first yet we received no information and no letters have been sent home explaining this decision."
Grace Academy claims the cameras only cover the sink areas and have not yet been activated.
School principal Terry Wales told Sky News: "It's to safeguard our youngsters, many schools are using cameras now.
"We had a parents' forum last night, we explained the arrangements and the parents were satisfied.
"We've found that when it comes to health and safety, children want to feel secure."
But privacy campaigners warned about the psychological effects of the feeling of being watched, even if cameras are not switched on.
Dylan Sharpe from Big Brother Watch told Sky News: "Children are entitled to privacy like anyone else.
"We're raising a generation of children accustomed to being constantly watched and monitored, whether cameras are switched on or not."
Grace Academy already has 26 CCTV cameras watching other parts of the school.
The incident is the latest row to erupt between schools and parents who are concerned about safeguarding their children's privacy.
Last year police were called to a school in Salford after parents were horrified to discover children had been filmed changing into their PE kit.
Although the footage was not misused, police seized the film after negotiating with the school.
In 2007 it was revealed schools had fingerprinted thousands of primary school children without their parent's consent.
The Department for Children, Schools and Families later ruled that if schools want to obtain and store biometric data from children, consent is not required from parents.
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What these sick Mad Marxist Bast*rds are doing to your children!
A group of primary schoolchildren were left traumatised after their teacher told them they were to be taken away from their families during a bizarre Holocaust classroom 'game'.
Pupils became hysterical after a number of them were separated and told they were being sent away or might end up in an orphanage.
The terrifying ordeal was meant to give the students at the Lanarkshire school an insight into the horrors faced by Jewish children during the Second World War, when they were plucked from home and sent to Nazi death camps.
But the ill-conceived exercise, which was sprung without warning on the children at St Hilary's Primary School in East Kilbride last Thursday morning, went badly wrong with many pupils, aged just 11, reduced to tears.
Deputy head teacher Elizabeth McGlynn was responsible for segregating the pupils and telling them they were to be sent away.
One angry parent, who has lodged an official complaint about the project, told how the 'barbaric' role play left children crying their eyes out in class.
In a letter sent to council bosses, the unnamed mother said: 'Mrs McGlynn told the children they would probably have to be sent away from their families and that their parents had been informed about this and knew all about it.
'When one child asked if that meant they might have to go to an orphanage, they were told that might be a possibility.
'At that point many of the children became very distressed.
'One boy kicked his chair over, one was angry and demanded to speak to someone in charge but most were crying on a scale ranging from mildly to severely.
'Their ordeal lasted between 12 and 15 minutes before the children were informed that it was all an act but that the role play would continue until lunchtime.'
One girl said her classmates began crying when Mrs McGlynn told them she had a letter from the Scottish Executive saying nine children had to be separated from their classmates.
She told the shocked youngsters those who were born in January, February and March had lower IQs than other children, 'due to lack of sunlight in their mother's womb', and that they had to put yellow hats on and be sent to the library.
The mother added: 'When I asked why on earth they thought it was appropriate to deliver a role play situation to the children in this way, Mrs Stewart informed me that they didn't inform the children beforehand.
'This was because they wanted the children to experience an "accurate emotional response" to this scenario in order for it to be reflected in their story writing.
- Perhaps the teachers should be kidnapped by a mock terrorist organization and held hostage overnight so they could experience an "accurate emotional response" to this scenario before telling them it was an exercise? this wouldn't be entertained of course yet they do similar things to YOUR children's minds (Ed)
'Mrs Stewart then invited me to come up to the school and see the excellent work that had been produced as a result of the exercise.
'I declined and my position and opinion on the method used to extract emotive story writing from the children was cruel, barbaric, traumatic and totally, totally unethical.
'My daughter and indeed no child needs to feel the terror, fear, panic, segregation and horror that a child of the Holocaust experienced during one of the worst atrocities in history to be able to empathise with them in order to produce good story writing.'
A South Lanarkshire council spokeswoman, who confirmed that a role play activity took place, said: 'The council can confirm that a parent handed in a letter to Education Resources on Monday, March 8, 2010, and this will be responded to shortly.'
An estimated six million Jews died in the Holocaust. Jewish children in Nazi Europe had to wear yellow Star of David badges during the Second World War.
They also had to live apart from the rest of the population in ghettos.
Finally they were taken to concentration camps, where most were separated from their parents then killed.
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With the general election only weeks away the pressure on the Tories is becoming intense.
In a democracy it is right to scrutinise an opposition party which aspires to rule the country but parts of the media now act as if the Conservatives are in office and Labour is in opposition.
So the Government’s spectacular incompetence and extremism are too often ignored while every utterance from the Cameron team is subjected to ferocious analysis and criticism.
Since January there has been a non-stop narrative of Tory gaffes and errors over everything from advertising posters to the use of statistics in press statements.
Yet these minor misjudgments pale beside the appalling policy disasters that Labour has made over the past 13 years, dragging our country to the brink of bankruptcy and destroying our national identity.
Labour has done far worse than just commit a few gaffes. the party has saddled us with soaring debt, corrupted our democracy, torn apart our social fabric and created a vast authoritarian, dogmatic state bureaucracy.
What is entirely missing from the current debate is any balance.
It is absurd to treat Labour and the tories as if they were both starting from the same point. Government ministers should be held to account for their deeds, not merely assessed on their words.
The lack of fairness can be seen in the furore over the donations given to the Conservatives by Lord Ashcroft, who has used his non-domiciled status to avoid paying tax in Britain on foreign earnings.
It is not a particularly edifying arrangement but from the way that Labour and the Left-wing media have been screaming about Ashcroft you would think Brown’s party never accepted a penny from any non-domiciled supporter.
In truth Labour is heavily bankrolled by this kind of backer. indeed between 2001 and 2008 Labour accepted more money from non-domiciled donors than the Tories, £8.9million compared to £5.6 million. It is the height of hypocrisy for Labour to pose as the champions of rectitude on the issue of political funding.
Over the past 13 years Labour has been engulfed in endless scandals over its financial arrangements, such as the notorious cash-for-honours saga or the dodgy donations affair. Moreover 60 per cent of Labour’s funding today comes from the trade union movement, which is completely dominated by the public sector.
It is no wonder, therefore, Brown has been so generous to public employees, rewarding them with higher pay, generous conditions, gold-plated pensions, job security and a massive expansion in the number of positions. In every area of policy where the Tories are under attack Labour’s record is a disgrace.
Recently the Conservatives were lambasted for getting some figures wrong about crime rates. Yet the Labour Government has presided over a complete breakdown in public faith in our justice system.
Violent crime has doubled, the police are drowning in bureaucracy and sentences for serious offenders have become a joke, thanks to Labour’s notorious human Rights Act.
Similarly the Tories were ridiculed for making a statistical error over the annual number of teenage pregnancies but Labour’s entire approach to family policy has been a catastrophe. Lone parenthood and male irresponsibility have been directly encouraged by the perverse incentives provided by the welfare state.
Tory critics are fond of talking about “splits” in the Cameron team but in reality any such disputes pale into insignificance beside the bizarrely dysfunctional nature of Labour.
This is a Government whose Chancellor Alistair Darling revealed on television last month that Downing Street had “unleashed the forces of hell” in its briefing operation against him.
Bullying, dishonesty, feuds and back-stabbing have become integral features of Brown’s administration.
Tory hesitations over economic policy are nothing compared to the shambles that Labour has made, leaving our nation even more indebted than Greece and racked by mass unemployment and welfare dependency.
Labour might sneer at George Osborne yet this is the party that abolished the 10p income tax rate, presided over a doubling of council tax bills and the introduction of a new 50p tax band which will only hurt enterprise. In the same vein Labour is fond of accusing the tories of “racism” and “extremism” if any concerns over immigration are raised but what could be more extreme than Labour’s systematic destruction of our borders, the import of more than 500,000 migrants a year and the refusal to take any action over one million illegal immigrants who have settled here?
Furthermore Labour’s fixation with the creed of multi-culturalism has accelerated the creeping Islamification of parts of our country as evidenced by the growth of sharia courts and the prevalence of the burkha. Cameron has been condemned for reneging on his pledge to hold a referendum on the EU’s Lisbon treaty but Labour made a similar promise.
Unlike Cameron Labour had the power to give the people a say before the treaty was ratified but refused to do so.
Instead Brown decided to speed up the destruction of our independence. that is so typical of Labour with its contempt for British democracy and nationhood. Whatever the tories’ failings Brown’s party does not deserve to stay in office a moment longer.
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The British National Party’s candidate in the Nottinghamshire seat of Sherwood will be the ever-popular Councillor James North, the party’s East Midlands press officer, John Ryde has announced.
“Cllr North will contest Sherwood thanks to generous donations by Derek Butler and Cliff Brown to fund the deposit and leaflets,” said Mr Ryde.
In a joint statement, the two donors said that the “attempts by Trevor Phillips and the EHRC to drain the party financially through the courts had failed spectacularly.
“Mr Phillips has so angered lovers of democracy that he has single-handedly opened the floodgates of financial support to the BNP, enabling us to stand far more candidates than we have ever anticipated,” they said.
Cllr North is the BNP councillor’s representative on the party’s Advisory Council, a local parish councillor and the organiser of the successful Melton Mowbray group. Sherwood is a Labour stronghold was last contested by the BNP in 1997.
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Election Looms and so it Begins...
A Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate has come under fire for writing his own fan mail to send to a local newspaper.
Councillor Jeremy Hilton, who hopes to become MP for Gloucester, asked a member of his PR team to write a letter describing him as 'the best man to do the job'.
It was then sent to former Gloucestershire County Council leader Peter Clarke, who was asked to sign it and forward it to his local newspaper.
But the original email, which claims that 'Jeremy would make a better MP' than his Labour rival Parmjit Dhanda, was also sent to The Citizen.
Dhanda, who is the current MP for Gloucester, today branded Cllr Hilton's 'bizarre and unnecessary' self-advertising as 'dirty politics'.
He said: 'The letter says more about him than it ever would about me. I think people are really put off by these types of dirty politics.
'People shouldn't be writing their own fan mail.'
Conservative parliamentary candidate Richard Graham added: 'It's a sad business.
'There have been several letters printed in The Citizen over the last few weeks, ostensibly coming from people extolling Jeremy Hilton's virtues.
'They do have the look and feel of something written for them. If he's having to write all these letters for other people, then that's just a bit sad.
'The people of Gloucester will have to make their own minds up about it.'
The letter, which was written by a member of Cllr Hilton's PR staff, was sent to Peter Clarke along with an email penned by Cllr Hilton himself. Continued
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An incoming Conservative government could come under immediate pressure to call a UK referendum on a new European Union treaty being suggested by Germany.
Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, has raised the prospect of new EU treaty only months after the Lisbon Treaty took force.
Mrs Merkel said that a new EU accord would be required to create a new European Monetary Fund able to bail out crisis-hit members of the euro like Greece. “We would need a treaty change,” she said.
Talk of a new EMF has led to warnings that power of tax and spending could be centralised in European institutions.
When the Lisbon accord was proposed, European leaders said that it would be the last attempt to change the EU’s basic rules for many years.
But some European politicians have taken the recent financial crisis as an opportunity to suggest more changes. The European Commission has said the crisis is a chance to improve Europe’s “economic governance”.
Britain is not a euro member, but it is a signatory to the Maastricht treaty that created the single European currency. Maastricht bans one euro member giving direct financial aid to another.
EU rules mean that any change in the union’s fundamental rules must be approved by all EU members in a new treaty.
Any new treaty that creates a “gouvernement économique” based in Brussels and Frankfurt would face stiff opposition from Eurosceptics across the British political spectrum.
Both Labour and the Conservatives signalled they would oppose any new EU treaty, and the issue has the potential to be a political embarrassment to both.
When David Cameron dropped his commitment to hold a referendum on Lisbon last year, he reassured voters and Eurosceptic Tories that a Conservative government would put any future treaty to a referendum.
Conservative officials confirmed that the referendum “lock” would be applied to any new EMF treaty.
Mark Francois, the Conservative shadow Europe minister, said: “A European Monetary Fund must create no financial or legal obligations on Britain.”
However, the Conservatives are wary of letting Europe become a major issue at the general election, fearing that Labour could use the subject to portray them as an unreformed right-wing party.
Labour promised a referendum on the European Constitution, the forerunner of Lisbon, but then dropped the commitment.
Mr Brown told the Commons in 2007 that he would not accept any change in Europe’s rules for another decade.
Downing Street confirmed on Tuesday that the UK would oppose any new treaty brought forward to set up an EMF.
Downing Street said: “The Government opposes further institutional change in the relationship between the EU and member states for this parliament and the next.”
Asked about Mrs Merkel’s remarks, No 10 said: “We don’t actually expect further institutional change.”
Mats Persson, director of Open Europe, a think-tank, said that any new treaty could be a move to centralise power over tax and spending policies.
He said. “This will be seen, rightly, as a step towards fiscal federalism. That would be a step in the wrong direction for the UK.”
Even though Britain is outside the euro, Mr Persson said it was “not inconceivable that the UK could take part in some way” in a new European bail-out fund.
As an example, he said, the UK pays to help fund the running costs of the European Central Bank, despite not being a member of the European single currency.
Nigel Farage, a UK Independence Party MEP, said: “British participation in a European IMF will prove to be a bottomless pit down which taxpayers’ money can be poured in an attempt to save a lost cause.”
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Sad news: George Monbiot, the high priest of the AGW cult, is feeling frustrated and depressed. He is oppressed by the realisation that, as the politicians phrase it, he is not getting his message across.
And this blog, at least in a small way, bears some part of the responsibility. From his pontifical throne in the Vatican of global warming – The Guardian – he has issued an anathema. Quoting from a recent anti-AGW scam posting by me, he observes: “The attack on climate scientists is now widening to an all-out war on science.”
Don’t get carried away, George. It is only an all-out war on bogus science, such as the global warming superstition you champion. The good guys can carry on inventing antibiotics and curing diseases with our whole-hearted support. It is the con men who have taken Al Gore’s shilling that we distrust and despise. Monbiot even has some insight into this. Of the perception of scientists as sinister schemers he concedes: “Sometimes this isn’t far from the truth.”
He cites those scientists who have weaponised anthrax, or isolated terminator genes for biotech companies to prevent farmers from saving seed, or written misleading endorsements of drugs for pharmaceutical companies. He even denounces the practices of scientific journals “whose monopolistic practices make the supermarkets look like angels”. I wonder if he has had a word with Phil Jones about that.
Despite these flashes of insight, George of course remains committed to the warmist creed. He even deplores “the hatred and derision the passionate and persuasive Al Gore attracts”. Steady on, George. Passionate? Well, yes, with what he has at stake in the way of investment in carbon companies, that is understandable. Persuasive? Not when his home movie An Inconvenient Truth turns out to be riddled with transparent untruths; not when his house is guzzling so much energy it is the only human habitation visible from space; not when he is trying to charge punters £1,200 a shot to be photographed with him at Copenhagen.
The central thesis of George’s Grand Remonstrance, however, is that the battle to persuade the world of the reality of global warming is lost. “No level of evidence can shake the growing belief that climate science is a giant conspiracy codded up by boffins and governments to tax and control us.” By George, he’s got it! Reality has dawned. The penny has dropped. The world knows AGW is a crock and nothing is going to change that reality. And the problem all along, George, was the very “evidence” to which you refer. The wider distrust of scientists was provoked by the thousands of white-coated whores who trousered the IPCC’s cash, chased the grants and plaudits, and clamped their gobs firmly around the UN and EU teats.
“There goes my life’s work,” concludes Monbiot, who appears to be undergoing some dark night of the soul. Aw, George, don’t be like that. Every prophet knows his moments of despair. You cannot be right all of the time. Lord Kelvin, former president of the Royal Society – today a bulwark of your cause – told us heavier-than-air flying machines were an impossibility and radio had no future. Many of us continue to believe you have a promising future as a national treasure, like one of those eccentric end-of-the-world sandwich-board men giving pleasure to the public. In time, as the affectionately renowned Moonbat, you could become the Michael Foot of global warming. Bear up, lad.
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EUReferendum
Recognising a bargain when they see it, the investment firm Low Carbon Accelerator (LCA) has invested £500,000 in wind and solar power project developer Vigor Renewables in order to cash-in on UK feed-in tariffs (FITs).
Vigor, we are told, is a new company formed to take advantage of changes to UK FITs, which aims to partner with land-owners, as well as commercial property owners and managers, to build and operate renewable power generating assets across the UK.
Each of the solar and wind energy sites they build will be designed to qualify for the FITs which come into effect in the UK on 1 April 2010 and "guarantee an inflation linked income for sub-5MW renewable energy projects."
For solar projects, the incentives are available for 25 years and for wind 20 years.
In an unfortunate turn of phrase, Vigor managing director Oliver Hughes says the FIT has created a "wealth of opportunity" for renewable energy developers in the UK.
"We are pleased that LCA, as a pioneer in clean-tech investment, has recognised this opportunity and the return potential for investors and for property and land-owners," Hughes said.
So it starts ... the pigs rush to the trough, scooping up the cash by the handfuls. They would be mad not to do so.
The government has devised an utterly mad system designed to put £8.6 billon a year into the kitty, available for anyone able to afford the initial investment. AND THE REST OF US PAY.
This one, like so many, has crept in under the radar, a perverted, distorted reverse Robin Hood scheme where the poor are robbed to give to the rich. And even with today's debauched currency, £8 billion plus A YEAR is a lot of money – you could build four aircraft carriers a year with that, every year.
This is money which is going to be siphoned out of our pockets, all to produce electricity in one of the least efficient and most expensive ways known to man. On our backs, will arise a vast, bloated "green" industry, milking the poor and the less-well-off, just to pay homage to a mad obsession. In Zimbabwe, runaway inflation produced scenes such as the one shown. If you see something similar in Britain, you are looking at a solar energy developer.
AND IT IS OUR MONEY.
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Read here. The pro-IPCC climate scientists predicted that mudslides and landslides (debris-flow) would increase due to global warming.
Researchers examined the historical evidence and found the prediction to be without empirical merit. It appears that the left/liberal/progressive global warming, alarmist scientists (and IPCC) are again caught hyping calamitous predictions without the requisite scientific evidence.
- "Matthews et al. report they could find "no obvious correlation between debris-flow frequency and a relative warm climate." In fact, they say that "debris-flow frequency was lowest post-8000 cal. BP during the Holocene Thermal Maximum," and that most of the "century- to millennial-scale phases of enhanced debris-flow activity appear to correlate with Neoglacial events," one of which was the "Little Ice Age."....they report that "there appears to be no consistent upward trend in debris-flow frequencies over recent decades," when one might have expected them to be growing in both number and magnitude if climate-alarmist claims were correct."
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You couldn't make this stuff up. It's always those filthy sceptics, flat-earthers, deniers. Here we are, just ordinary climate scientists going about our daily lives, fudging data, deleting emails when we get FOI requests, and threatening journals that dare to publish papers that challenge the consensus, and you nasty mean sceptics somehow find that objectionable.
If only we could just get on with our skulduggery without your annoying interference:
CSIRO scientists say they are coming under political attack as part of an orchestrated campaign by climate change sceptics.
A delegation of scientists is in Canberra this week to push for bipartisan political support for open debate and diversity in government science. [Open debate? That'll be the day - Ed]
CSIRO Staff Association president Michael Borgas says scientific integrity is under threat. [Yes, it certainly is, but not from the sceptics, it's from the climate scientists who have forgotten what being a scientist is all about - Ed]
"It's a very large concern both internal but in particular externally," he said.
"Now we're seeing some quite unprecedented attacks on the integrity of science in the CSIRO, that was in senate estimates recently."
Dr Borgas says scientists need more support from management.
"We frankly think that the management does make matters worse by appearing to gag comment and exert too much control of the scientists," he said.
"But we can see that they are attempting to manage the risk that they see from these attacks which are coming from the outside."
Whose fault is all this? Get your own ship in order before looking for excuses elsewhere.
Read it where? You guessed it. In the ever-impartial ABC.
UPDATE: And Stephen Schneider gets in on the victim act, with this outlandish claim:
”I have hundreds” of threatening emails, Stephen Schneider, a climatologist at Stanford University in California, told Tierramérica.
He believes scientists will be killed over this. ”I'm not going to let it worry me... but you know it's going to happen,” said Schneider, one of the most respected climate scientists in the world. ”They shoot abortion doctors here.” (source)
Schneider, like all the others, was strangely silent when threats of "Nuremburg Trials", jail or execution for climate sceptics were being made. Funny that.
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Labour is adopting a 'scorched earth' policy by rushing through expensive projects before the an election is called, the Tories claim.
The Conservatives are accusing ministers of making 'reckless and irresponsible' spending decisions, which will leave any incoming government with projects that will prove difficult to finance.
Ministers are pushing through several massive computer projects in the run-up to the election - including the controversial £12.7billion NHS IT patients' record scheme.
They have also signed a £1billion logistics software contract for the Ministry of Defence as well as speeded up a £600million contract to run new personal pension accounts.
Shadow Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude said: 'Labour's actions resemble a dying administration making reckless and irresponsible spending commitments to wreck the finances for any incoming government.'
Rules state that ministers must postpone contentious procurement decisions until after the election.
But these only apply once the date has been announced.
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Patients’ confidential medical records are being placed on a controversial NHS database without their knowledge, doctors’ leaders have warned.
Those who do not wish to have their details on the £11 billion computer system are supposed to be able to opt out by informing health authorities.
But doctors have accused the Government of rushing the project through, meaning that patients have had their details uploaded to the database before they have had a chance to object.
The scheme, one of the largest of its kind in the world, will eventually hold the private records of more than 50 million patients.
But it has been dogged by accusations that the private information held on it will not be safe from hackers.
The British Medical Association claims that records have been placed on the system without patients’ knowledge or consent.
It follows allegations that the Government wanted to complete the project before the Conservatives had a chance to cancel it.
In a letter to ministers published today, the BMA urges the Government to suspend the scheme.
Hamish Meldrum, its chairman, writes: "The breakneck speed with which this programme is being implemented is of huge concern.
"Patients’ right to opt out is crucial, and it is extremely alarming that records are apparently being created without them being aware of it.
"If the process continues to be rushed, not only will the rights of patients be damaged, but the limited confidence of the public and the medical profession in NHS IT will be further eroded."
At present 1.29 million people have had their details placed on the system. A further 8.9 million records are due to be added by June. By the end of next year, the NHS hopes to have more than 50 million uploaded.
The "summary" records contain basic medical information including illnesses, vaccination history, and could include medication patients have been given. Ages and addresses are also included.
Patients are supposed to be notified by letter at least 12 weeks before their details go live on the system and given the chance to opt out.
The BMA says that letters have gone to the wrong addresses and that many patients have been unsure what they mean.
Doctors point out that there has been no national advertising programme to explain the scheme, as has been the case with other government initiatives.
David Wrigley, from the BMA's GP committee, said: "The concern is that people may not be aware, because they did not receive the letter, they did not read it or they thought it was junk mail and threw it away."
The BMA also criticises the fact that the information packs do not include the form which allows patients to opt out. It can only be obtained via the internet or by calling a helpline.
Katherine Murphy, of the Patients Association, said: "The Health Service should not put in place bureaucratic obstacles to patient choice because they are worried about what patients might choose to do."
Norman Lamb, the Liberal Democrat health spokesman, said: "The Government needs to end its obsession with massive central databases.
"The NHS IT scheme has been a disastrous waste of money and the national programme should be abandoned."
A spokesman for the Department of Health said that ministers "absolutely support" the right of patients to opt out of the scheme, adding that various options were provided to make this straightforward.
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Technology to fight terrorists is being used by “town hall Stasi” to hike parking fines and rake in cash from motorists, the Tories said yesterday.
Councils routinely use Automatic Number Plate Recognition technology to clamp down on parking offences, they claim.
The device scans 3,000 vehicles an hour and cross-checks in seconds with police, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency and insurance databases.
This allows parking tickets to be issued by computer.
Minister for Security and Counter-Terrorism Lord West said the technology is for fighting serious crime. In a parliamentary written answer, he told how it is “used by police forces for intelligence-led policing and investigative purposes”.
Shadow Communities Minister Stewart Jackson said councils are using “spy technology” to penalise motorists for “minor breaches” of parking rules.
“This is yet another sign of the march of the town hall Stasi under Labour,” he said.
“CCTV has a role to catch criminals, but it will lose public support if it is being used to create a surveillance state.”
In a Parliamentary written answer, Transport Minister Sadiq Khan said Department for Transport records show councils in Nottingham, Hackney, Bournemouth and Basildon have used or still use the technology for parking enforcement. He said it helped “assist the visual identification of vehicles when the evidence is reviewed”.
Director of Big Brother Watch Alex Deane, which campaigns against the surveillance society, said: “This confirms what every driver will have suspected – that ANPR cameras are about revenue raising, not law enforcement. This sneaky network is really just another tax.”
A Local Government Association spokesman said: “If people park illegally and drive in bus lanes they block traffic, cause accidents and stop emergency vehicles getting through. ANPR can be an efficient way of using council taxpayers’ money to prevent people driving illegally.”
A Transport Department spokesman said: “Using the cameras is up to each council.”
AA president Edmund King said: “Technology takes no account of common sense. A motorist could be in a bus lane after pulling over to let an emergency police vehicle with blue flashing lights go past.”
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As usual the need of the few outweigh the Right's of the Many
Pharmacist refuses to give mother, 38, contraceptive pills for period pain 'because of her religion'
A pharmacist refused to serve a mother-of-two with a prescription for the contraceptive pill because it went against her religious beliefs.
Shocked Janine Deeley, 38, initially thought the female pharmacist must be joking, but became angry when she was told to try another chemist or come back the next day when someone else was on duty.
Miss Deeley said she is prescribed the pill by her GP because she suffers from a condition which causes painful periods.
She said she was furious at being 'treated like a child' and having to explain herself like an irresponsible teenager.
She said: 'I couldn't believe the arrogance of the woman. Who is she to refuse to give me properly prescribed legal drugs? I am a responsible adult.
'She had no right to refuse to dispense my prescription except if the drugs weren't in stock or if she thought the dosage was incorrect.'
The branch of Lloyd's pharmacy adjoins the doctor's surgery and Miss Deeley said she had used it for years without a problem. But this time the pharmacist took her to one said and said she could have the painkillers she wanted but not the contraceptive pill.
'I asked "oh why not?" and she said "I don't give them out because of my religion." I honestly thought she was joking and I said "Pardon?"
'She repeated it and I said "You're not giving me the pills because of your religion?" and she replied "Yes." I was absolutely stunned. I was fuming and just stormed out.'
Miss Deeley, of Wybourn, Sheffield, added: 'I had no idea what religion the woman was and I don't remember if she has served me before. The other staff looked very embarrassed but obviously it was the pharmacist's decision.
'There's a lot of things in society you might not like or agree with, but you can't do anything about them.This type of thing shouldn't be happening, it's not right.'
The jobless single mother has daughters Carlie, 18, and Lauren, 14, and she is concerned about the implications of such a refusal policy.
She said: 'My daughter is 18 - she might want to go on the Pill and she has got that right. I'd rather have that than an unwanted pregnancy.'
A spokeswoman for Lloyds pharmacy said an investigation had been launched: 'We are very sorry Ms Deeley was refused supply of her prescribed contraceptive pill at our Duke Street pharmacy.
'We have launched an investigation into the incident and been in contact with her to apologise for any distress and inconvenience caused.'
Yesterday the pharmacist - who has not been named - was not at work. She is a locum who is said to occasionally fill in when the regular pharmacists are on holiday or on a day off.
A spokeswoman from NHS Sheffield, the primary care trust responsible for how well pharmacies and other health bodies across the city perform, said it would investigate the matter if a formal complaint was made.
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (RPSGB) said the pharmacist was acting within her rights.
The spokesman said:'While the Code of Ethics and Standards does not require a pharmacist to provide a service that is contrary to their religious or moral beliefs, any attempt by a pharmacist to impose their beliefs on a member of the public seeking their professional guidance, or a failure to have systems in place to advise of alternative sources for the service required, would be of great concern to the RPSGB and could form the basis of a complaint of professional misconduct.'
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Up to half the food aid sent to the hungry millions in Somalia never makes it to those who need it most, according to a shock United Nations report.
Instead the aid ends up in the hands of corrupt contractors, radical Islamic militants and local United Nations staff.
Much of the £340million a year in food aid is held to ransom by a corrupt cartel of Somali distributors who then sell it illegally and use the funds to buy weapons.
Somalia is now known as one of the most dangerous places in the world with pirates roaming off the horn of Africa and hijacking cargo ships that are held for ransom.
A British couple, Paul and Rachel Chandler, have been held hostage for over four months after being snatched from their yacht as they sailed toward Tanzania.
The damming report into corruption in the UN's food programme was made by the organisation's own Security Council.
It follows claims by that millions of pounds raised through Bob Geldof's Live Aid project in the 1980s ended up being used by guerrillas fighting the Ethiopian Government.
According to the UN report some 3.7m people in Somalia are dependent on foreign food aid distributed by their World Food Programme.
But it says the distribution is beset by rampant corruption on a local level.
Transport lorries carrying food are routinely hijacked and forced to run the gauntlet of roadblocks manned by militias and insurgents.
The report even names a local businessman, Abdulkadir M. Nur involved in the distribution process who hijacks his own trucks and later sells the food on the black market.
The report said his wife plays a prominent role in a local aid agency and signs off reports on food distribution.
The report also reveals that three Somali businessmen who hold the pds160m worth of contracts to distribute food are suspected of links to Islamic insurgents.
'Some humanitarian resources, notably food aid, have been diverted to military uses,' the report said.
'A handful of Somali contractors for aid agencies have formed a cartel and become important power brokers -- some of whom channel their profits or the aid itself -- directly to armed opposition groups.'
The report says that fraud is widespread with about 30 percent of aid skimmed by local partners and local World Food Program personnel.
A further 10 percent is taken by the ground transporters and 5 to 10 percent by the armed group in control of the area where it is to be distributed.
In January, the US halted tens of millions of dollars of aid shipments to southern Somalia because of fears it was falling into the wrong hands.
American officials believe that some aid may have been taken by members of Al Shabab, the most militant of Somalia’s insurgent groups.
The Security Report calls on UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon open an independent investigation into the World Food Programme's Somalia operations.
The World Food Programme's deputy executive director, Amir Abdulla, said officials have not seen the report.
Abdulla said:'We will investigate all of the allegations as we have always done in the past if questions have been raised about our operations.'
Wednesday 10th March 2010
Violent crime has rocketed by 44 per cent under Labour, official Parliamentary research revealed last night.
The House of Commons Library report is the definitive independent verdict on the 13-year record of the Government.
The Tories say the research backs their claims about 'broken Britain'.
The figures are a serious and embarrassing blow to the Government - which has repeatedly insisted violent crime was down and accused the Tories of using 'dodgy' statistics.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling said: 'This new analysis confirms that the level of violent crime actually reported to police officers in police stations up and down the country is much higher than it was a decade ago.
'This just serves to underline the scale of the challenge the country faces in fixing our broken society.'
However, Home Secretary Alan Johnson repeated his claim that the Tories use 'dodgy' statistics and said violent crime was down.
The House of Commons Library figures take into account changes to the ways police count violent crimes.
Its report says the number of crimes of violence against the person in 2008/09 was 887,942 - an increase of 44 per cent on the adjusted figure of 618,417 for 1998/99.
The row began last month after a note circulated to Conservative candidates detailed a dramatic rise in violence in their constituencies.
Opponents attacked the figures because they did not recognise that the rules for recording crime were changed in 2002-03.
Instead of police deciding whether an incident should be recorded as violence, the new system required them to do so whenever an alleged victim asked them to.
As a result, the level of recorded violent crimes soared in the first year the system was introduced.
Sir Michael Scholar, head of the UK Statistics Authority, warned the Conservatives that their figures were 'likely to damage public trust in official statistics'.
Labour MPs accused Mr Grayling and David Cameron of fiddling figures and insisted that violent crime had gone down.
Mr Johnson demanded an apology, while Gordon Brown said: 'We don't tackle the fear of crime by cultivating it, by claiming our society is broken. Sometimes as damaging as the fear of crime is the crime of fear.'
And Mr Johnson was sticking to his guns last night.
His spokesman said: 'Chris Grayling has tried to get cover for his dodgy use of crime statistics and has failed.
'As Sir Michael Scholar, head of the independent UK Statistics Authority clearly states, the British Crime Survey is recognised as the most accurate way of recording crime levels.'
He added: 'This clearly shows reductions in violent crime of 41 per cent since 1997.'
The British Crime Survey is a questionnaire of 40,000 households, and is unrelated to actual recorded crime figures.
The Tories say the survey is not the best measure of trends because it excludes key offences, including crimes against under-16s, homicides, fraud and sexual offences.
A Home Office spokesman said: 'The British Crime Survey is the best indicator of long-term trends than police recorded crime because it is unaffected by changes in levels of reporting to the police or police recording practices.'
Criminologist Dr David Green, director of Civitas, said of the research: 'It is very revealing and fits intuitively with what many people feel and what many people have been saying.
'For people to feel that violent crime is going up and to be told they are suffering from moral panic has always been of some concern.'
Related:
Summarised Labour's Timeline on Crime
from the moment they got into power
Criminologist Roger Graef said official surveys were 'incomplete' and hid the 'dark figure of violent crime'.
The debate between Labour and Conservative MPs could leave people misinformed, according to Sir Michael Scholar, chairman of the UK Statistics Authority.
Some foreign criminals, like child-killer Agnes Wong, are offered a package worth up to £5,000 designed to 'bribe' them to leave the UK.
Police are wrongly dismissing certain crimes in a bid to meet Government targets on crime figures, it was revealed today.
Official figures reveal that, in the year ending March 2009, police detected only 47 per cent of the 903,993 violent attacks reported by the public.
Shadow home secretary Chris Grayling blames Labour for standing by while 'urban war' breaks out in parts of the country.
The number of convictions for carrying a knife has leapt by almost two thirds since Labour took office, it emerged last night.
The figures from EC and UN reports come on the day new Home Secretary Alan Johnson makes his first major speech on crime, promising to be tough on loutish behaviour.
Bright yellow police signs appealing for witnesses to serious offences are no longer such a feature of grim city streets
Those on the run in London are three Poles and a Lithuanian wanted for violent sexual assaults, drug trafficking, people smuggling, fraud and robbery. Under European Union rules, they would have been able to enter the country without a visa.
Police officers have had to deal with 10,000 violent incidents at schools in a year. Teachers were forced to call them in to deal with attacks on staff and pupils - some involving knives or other weapons.
The head of the Home Office has admitted in a leaked document that the Government has failed to reduce serious violent crime over the past decade.
Some police forces have been under-recording the most serious violent crimes, the Home Office said today, as it released figures showing a 22% increase.
Violent crime in the countryside has almost doubled since Labour came to power, official figures have revealed.
Labour's decision to allow 24-hour drinking has led to a shocking increase in anti-social behaviour, new figures have revealed.
Our new figures show that almost every major city is facing soaring levels of stabbings and knifepoint muggings – casting doubt on Home Secretary Jacqui Smith’s reassurances about the safety of our streets. The data shows the problem is not confined to London – where 53 people have been stabbed to death so far this year – but is a rising concern in most urban areas.
Cautions have overtaken convictions as punishment for violent crimes for the first time, a report reveals today. The number of assault cases where police allow offenders to escape punishment has more than trebled in five years to more than 118,000 - including a near-doubling of the most serious violent attacks. The rapid expansion of 'instant justice' under Labour has seen a dramatic rise in the use of formal warnings, cautions and on-the-spot fines by police as an alternative to pressing criminal charges.
The detection rate for violent crime has plunged by a third since Labour came to power, it has been claimed.
For most of us the priorities for our councils are pretty clear. Cutting council tax and keeping the streets clean are likely to be somewhere near the top.
The rate of violent and sexual re-offending has risen by 12.5 per cent since 2000, official figures from the Ministry of Justice have revealed.
The revelation that only three per cent of London street robberies are solved by CCTV cameras comes as no surprise to me.
The scale of violence on London's buses is revealed today. An average of eight crimes such as stabbings, sexual assaults and beatings are reported each day - as well as 160 cases of criminal damage, fights, fare disputes and drunken clashes.
The evidence from the police is clear: Uncontrolled immigration has brought crime with it. Britain's highest ranking black policeman told the Government in a leaked letter that 'migration surges' had contributed to an increase of more than a third in violent crime over five years to 7,800 incidents in 2007
Britain's highest ranking black policeman has warned the Home Secretary his force is struggling to cope with an immigrant crimewave. Kent chief constable Mike Fuller told Jacqui Smith 'migration surges' had contributed to an increase of more than a third in violent crime over five years to 7,800 incidents in 2007
Almost 75,000 violent crime suspects, including 10,000 sex offenders, were freed on bail last year. This amounts to four out of every five suspected danger men and women caught by the police. The sex attackers, muggers and burglars could have been remanded in custody while they awaited trial or sentence.
The number of firearms officers working in areas where gun crime is soaring has fallen sharply, figures released reveal. And despite a steep overall rise in firearms-related offences, the total number of weapons-trained officers has dropped
More people from ethnic minorities must be stopped and searched if Britain is to win the fight against violent crime, according to one of the country's top black police officers
More than one in five crimes committed in London in the first six months of this year were carried out by a foreign citizen, new police figures have revealed
Only one in 50 teenagers convicted of a violent attack is locked up, despite soaring crime rates
Black teenagers commit high levels of street crime and carry guns because they come from broken homes and have little faith in the police, it has been claimed
Two million violent crimes are omitted from official statistics every year because of the Government's 'misleading' way of counting crime, a report has revealed
An influx of immigrants from violent countries is contributing to gang warfare, police have warned. Asylum seekers and other migrants who had witnessed violence in their home countries were having a 'disproportionate negative impact'
Tony Blair has called on black communities to denounce violent gangs. The Prime Minister said people should not 'pretend' that black young people were not responsible for knife and gun crime
Another shooting in the early hours of yesterday in North London adds to the grisly toll of gangland gun violence over the past fortnight. This shocking situation has elicited the predictable signs of political panic
John Reid is facing a new public safety crisis amid a huge fall in the number of muggers sent to jail - and the first cut in police patrolling the streets for seven years
More than half of violent thugs caught by police now escape with a ticking-off, it has emerged. Instead of being hailed before the courts or jailed, more than 50,000 violent attackers were simply handed a caution last year
Police are solving only one in three sex crimes -a record twice as bad as when Labour came to power, figures revealed last night
Cherie Blair thinks knife crime in Britain is now so bad that she fears for her own children's safety when they walk the streets.
Police forces are routinely failing to respond to calls from people desperately trying to report a crime, a damning report reveals. Officers are not answering the phone or not bothering to return calls or make promised follow-up visits, the Audit Commission said
Britain's top police officers have been gagged from commenting on figures released today which show a nine per cent surge in violent crime.
Michael Howard has claimed crime is 'out of control' as he continued his battle with Tony Blair over their law and order records. Mr Howard cited the 'horrific' murder of financier John Monckton to back up his claim that 'the fight against crime is being lost'
Violent crime is on the increase. Drunken yobbery turns town and city centres into no-go areas. Though fear is an everyday reality, police stations close at the rate of three a month, while officers waste time on unproductive red tape.
Violent crime recorded by police has risen by 12% over the last year, with threats to kill up 23%. Sex offences and rapes also rose, according to Home Office figures published today. But David Blunkett welcomed separate crime figures which showed crime falling 39% since 1995 as 'promising'
Crime gangs in Britain are targeting the lucrative trade in illegal immigrants and fuelling the demand for crack cocaine, a major report reveals.
Violent crime rose sharply last year for the fourth year running, figures reveal today. Police recorded big increases in violent assaults and sexual offences in the year to March, including a 27 per cent rise in rapes against women.
The Government's latest crime figures were condemned as "truly terrible" by the Tories today as it emerged that gun crime in England and Wales soared by 35% last year.
Crime rose last year by the greatest margin for a decade, official figures show today. At the same time the proportion of crimes solved fell to an all-time low. The alarming statistics make a mockery of Tony Blair's pledge to be tough on crime.
The Government is insisting that closed-circuit television cameras do help cut crime, despite new research suggesting they are far less effective than simple measures like good street lighting
Violent crime is rocketing, according to official statistics to be published this week. Police figures are expected to show assaults and robberies have leapt by 15 per cent in the past year
The Conservatives today accused the Government of being soft on crime, complicit in demoralising the police force and failing to support the victims of crime.
Britain has a higher crime rate than any other rich nation except Australia, according to an international survey just published
Violent crime rose last year by 8 per cent and robbery by 21 per cent, the Home Office said today. It is the ninth time in 10 years that violent crime has increased
A huge surge in violent crime in Manchester - up by 50 per cent in the past year according to figures released yesterday
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The true scale of violent crime under the Labour government has been exposed by Whitehall officials.
According to figures released by the Independent Commons Library, there has been a 44 per cent rise in violent crime since 1998 – the year after Labour came to power.
The study’s findings contradict ministerial assertions that violent crime has been reduced by government in the last decade.
It is the first time such a trend in police recorded crime can be identified because a change was made in counting rules in 2002 which ministers have always insisted meant figures before that date were not, therefore, comparable.
Instead, they have always used a separate the separate British Crime Survey which suggests violence has dropped by more than 40 per cent since 1998.
However, the Conservatives – who commissioned the research – say that the new figures paint a true picture of crime in ‘broken Britain’.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling said: “This new analysis confirms that the level of violent crime actually reported to police officers in police stations up and down the country is much higher than it was a decade ago.
“This just serves to underline the scale of the challenge the country faces in fixing our broken society.”
The revelation has come just one week after the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown insisted that instances of violent crime have dropped by 1.5 million offences under Labour before attempting to blame a growing fear of crime on the Tories for “ramping up” public panic.
The research by the Commons Library uses an estimate by the Home Office that the change is likely to have resulted in a 23 per cent increase in recorded violent crime.
This means the number of crimes of violence against the person in 2008/09 was 887,942 - an increase of 44 per cent on the adjusted figure of 618,417 for 1998/99.
It is in stark contrast with the British Crime Survey, which questions more than 40,000 people, which reports violent crime has dropped from 3.5 million to 2.1 million over the same period.
However, UK Statistics Authority chairman Sir Michael Scholar backed the use of the survey, which is based on public interviews, when he accused the Conservatives of “damaging trust in official statistics”.
Alan Johnson, the Home Secretary, said: “Chris Grayling has tried to get cover for his dodgy use of crime statistics and has failed.
“As Sir Michael Scholar, the head of the UK Statistics Authority, states, the British Crime Survey is widely regarded as the most accurate way of recording crime levels.
“This clearly shows a reduction in violent crime of 41 per cent since 1997.”
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Britain is in the grip of a wave of militancy by millions of public sector workers as unions threaten to 'unleash hell' on an incoming Conservative government.
Alarming figures reveal the number of days lost to strike action in the public sector is now 15 times higher than in the private sector, prompting concerns about the growing readiness of union leaders to flex their muscles.
These figures are particularly startling as it is private sector workers that have so far borne the brunt of the recession, taking the vast majority of pay cuts, pay freezes and redundancies.
Yet Labour's union paymasters, who are bankrolling the party's election campaign, are preparing further strike plans.
There will be angry clashes tomorrow when tens of thousands of senior public sector workers are expected to be told they will get a pay freeze this year, like many of their private sector counterparts.
Chancellor Alistair Darling has written to salary review bodies calling on them to freeze the pay of around 40,000 judges, senior NHS managers and GPs.
In addition, about 700,000 middle-ranking public servants, including doctors, dentists and prison officers, would get a rise of between zero and 1 per cent, if the bodies accept the Chancellor's recommendations.
Gordon Brown faces the difficult backdrop of public sector workers on picket lines at the height of an election campaign, with ensuing chaos for the public.
Yesterday the Public and Commercial Services Union claimed 'widespread disruption' following a strike by up to 200,000 civil servants.
The two-day strike, which continues today, hit many key public services from 999 operators and immigration officials to courts and coastguards.
It was triggered by a bitter and long-running dispute with the Government over changes to redundancy payoffs.
Yesterday the strike meant 1,600 driving tests were cancelled, while around 100 police officers were drafted in to man 999 emergency lines in London.
At Gatwick airport and at ferry terminals, the union claimed up to 70 per cent of staff were on strike.
A new analysis of official statistics shows that the average public sector worker went on strike 15 times as much as the average private sector worker - with 353,000 days lost last year. Ten years ago, only 70,000 days were lost across the public sector.
Public sector unions are already threatening a greatly increased rate of strikes in 2010, in the face of urgently-needed public spending cuts.
According to one union source, they are building up a £25million war chest to 'unleash hell' on a Tory government.
Matthew Elliott, of the TaxPayers' Alliance, accused the public sector of 'throwing its toys out of the pram', while 'people in the private sector have long accepted the reality that these are tough times.'
He said: 'Public sector workers are far more likely to go on strike despite enjoying better pay, more generous pensions and far greater job security than workers in the private sector.'
But Mark Serwotka, leader of the PCS, said: 'The Government is tearing up civil servants' contracts in front of their eyes, yet claims it can do nothing about bankers' bonuses because of contractual obligations.'
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The malicious court case against the British National Party over its membership rules has been postponed for final judgement to Friday after the presiding judge threw out two thirds of the Equalities and Human Rights Commissions’ case today.
“The EHRC’s argument was in two sections,” said BNP leader Nick Griffin MEP.
“The first was that the new constitution was not in force because the BNP had not followed the correct procedures in setting it up.
“The judge has decisively rejected that and ruled that the BNP’s new constitution is valid and has been constituted in a correct and legal manner,” Mr Griffin said.
“The only remaining part upon which the judge still has to decide is the EHRC’s allegation that the BNP’s new constitution constitutes a form of indirect discrimination. He will give his opinion at 10:30 on Friday morning.”
Mr Griffin said the EHRC’s argument was based on an attempt to use the word “policies” in the Act to mean to refer to aims and objectives of any party or group, rather than about application and recruitment policies.
“The EHRC of course claims otherwise, but it is patently obvious this is what they are trying to do,” he said.
“If their argument was followed through, it would open up a can of worms which would be absolutely absurd.
“It would mean, for example, that a party which stood for abortion on demand could be accused of discriminating against Catholics, or vegetarian parties could be accused of discriminating against meat eaters,” Mr Griffin said.
“This would set a terrible precedent and we would hope that the judge would not go down this road.
“It is a very promising sign that judge has already seen fit to strike down most of the EHRC’s pathetic arguments over procedural issues. We would hope that this consistency and logic is followed through on Friday.”
Mr Griffin added that the BNP’s new constitution has empowered him to make any changes if so ordered by the court without having to go through an extended procedure once again.
“As a result, I intend to end this waste of time, money and blatant political persecution one way or another on Friday,” Mr Griffin concluded.
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The Department of Work and Pensions has been accused of trying to "bury bad news" by Tory MP Andrew Selous, for failing to answer parliamentary questions on time.
Speaking in the Commons this afternoon, The MP said the department was guilty of "shameful behaviour" and was avoiding being held accountable by the MPs
The South West Bedfordshire MP said he had asked the questions "over a calendar month ago".
And he said the department was trying to "bury bad news" by delaying the answers to his questions.
The Speaker said that ministers should provide answers to written parliamentary questions in a "timely" fashion.
"To table a question and to find a month later he has not received any reply or a substantive reply is not satisfactory," he said.
Selous had asked the Department for Work and Pensions how many people had their claims for jobseeker's allowance processed in (a) five or fewer days, (b) between six and 10 days; (c) between 11 and 16 days, (d) between 17 and 21 days and (e) more than 21 days in (i) December 2009 and (ii) January 2010.
He is also waiting a response to a question on how much the department spent in sending customer documents by courier between jobcentres and benefit delivery centres in the last financial year.
Both questions were tabled on February 8, and were due to be answered on February 22.
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Just weeks before a general election, the Prime Minister provides a photo-opportunity of himself, posing with our brave boys in Afghanistan.
A few hours later, it is announced that no reporters will be permitted to visit the front line during that election campaign, lest what they see and hear should influence the outcome.
Justice minister Jack Straw tells parliament he will not disclose the reason why Jamie Bulger's killer Jon Venables has been returned to prison, lest this prejudice possible future criminal proceedings.
And on Sunday, the BBC's Panorama reported that more than 60 per cent of NHS hospital trusts provide the public with inaccurate information about their performance.
Here, within the space of a few days, is an extraordinary range of examples of the manner in which official secrecy routinely operates in Britain, all year round.
The alleged right of the Government and institutions to withhold information - even on issues of the utmost importance to the public interest - is exercised again and again, at the convenience of ministers and civil servants.
In 21st century Britain, a chasm now exists: between the feast of information the sovereign and corporate states possess about us and the crumbs they disclose about themselves.
Each of us knows that records of our phone calls, finances, household circumstances, shopping transactions and even physical movements are monitored by thousands of computers and tens of thousands of CCTV cameras.
Perhaps you, like me, have become increasingly reluctant to conduct online shopping transactions that demand, say, 20 lines of personal details.
We are aware that such information is likely to be broadcast and sold to scores of other organisations, regardless of whether or not we tick the box for non-disclosure.
Making such tiny gestures to protect our privacy is futile amid the floodtide of data that is already jamming networks.
The Government, in contrast, discloses information about its own workings and those of public bodies like a miser paying his bills in 10p coins on the last day of the month.
It knows almost everything about us - but we are told vastly less about them than we rightfully should be.
The Afghan example above is grotesque. British forces are engaged in a serious war on the far side of the world.
The Government has handled it badly - recklessly, even - above all, by under-resourcing.
Many soldiers are understandably bitter, as almost every day they experience the consequences of trying to do too much with too little.
This is embarrassing for our Government and should be a source of personal shame to the prime minister, if he was capable of such a sentiment.
But it is extraordinary that the Ministry of Defence should deem it acceptable to deny frontline access to the media ahead of polling day, lest reporters discover things that further damage New Labour.
Such behaviour, however, is institutionalised. Take another example: in recent months, evidence has emerged that the huge increase in immigration to Britain since 1997 was endorsed by the Blair regime in pursuit of its own political ends.