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Sunday 27th July 2008
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We at UKT don't believe in a nuclear future but...
The prospect of French-state controlled EDF buying British Energy - whose eight nuclear and one coal-fired powers stations generate about a sixth of the UK's electricity - got my goat this week.
Over the years I have watched first many City institutions pass into foreign hands; then companies like Rolls-Royce Motors, P & O, and O2, and soccer teams such as Manchester United, and much else besides with regret but not outrage.
Powerful financial forces had been at work and, as in most cases UK shareholders opted to take the money and run when overseas bidders came a-calling, it could be viewed as capitalism in action.
Gordon Brown proclaimed that the UK's open door policy to foreign investment strengthened our economy because it attracted overseas cash.
Now that the home economy is on the skids that sort of thinking looks short-sighted in the extreme. But it is too late to restore the family silver to its former glory.
It has to admitted also that UK businesses have done their share of overseas purchases. But something as strategic as our nuclear future - even if as rumoured British Gas company Centrica buys a minority stake from EDF - which really should not be open to foreign control.
It is true that the French do nuclear-generated electricity rather well - although there have been some radioactivity leaks recently - and this country has a long history of making a hash of the industry.
But when British Energy - where the Government has a remaining 35 per cent stake - was put up for sale a way should have been found of tapping French knowhow without ceding majority control.
The French for one would not stand for it if the roles were reversed. The Government is in urgent need of a backbone transplant. News Source
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If we let the security services have their way, we would probably all end up with barcodes on our foreheads, CCTV cameras in our bedrooms and listening devices in our cars.
The argument that 'you can't be too careful' is a standing excuse for continuing obsessive surveillance of the innocent - just in case.
It is a very bad principle. And, after several years of giving in to it, the British people are beginning to have doubts.
This summer, as we plod through airports with our shoes in one hand and our belts in the other, while our contraband handcream is confiscated by boot-faced jobsworths, we must now contemplate the prospect of being fingerprinted the next time we travel.
No doubt we will be told that this is for our own good and safety, and expected to button our lips.
But the real reason for this intrusive and demeaning procedure is the commercial greed of BAA, which wants to be sure that as many passengers as possible get as much exposure as possible to as many shops as possible.
The Information Commissioner, who rightly mistrusts the idea, has already scotched it once when it was proposed for Heathrow's Terminal 5.
But BAA remains determined to have 'open lounges' where all travellers - domestic and international - mix together.
We can hardly be surprised that BAA wants to maximise its income. But what is inexplicable here is that the Government seems to have given no thought to the alternative of continuing to separate domestic and international passengers.
Governments are supposed to judge wisely between competing interests, not to collapse under pressure from fat commercial lobbies. Continued
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Getting rid of Gordon Brown could be the difference between honorable defeat and total wipeout at the next election.
To a much greater extent than is generally acknowledged we use events to justify conclusions that we were already minded to reach. When David Cameron's bicycle was stolen in Notting Hill this week, the media represented him sympathetically as an ordinary guy doing the shopping, and sharing - albeit involuntarily - the grief that crime causes his fellow citizens.
If Gordon Brown's bike had been nicked in identical circumstances we would have dubbed him a prat for chaining it to a stub from which it could be easily lifted, and described the incident as yet another stumble for a hapless politician who seems incapable even of taking his bike down to the shops. Apparently objective facts can be arranged to point in quite various directions.
And so, in the Glasgow East by-election, a couple of hundred votes one way rather than the other tipped the balance towards a result that we are ready to pronounce “devastating”. Yet those few hundred votes - that narrow defeat - weren't what is important. A narrow Labour victory would have pointed equally to a horrible outcome for Gordon Brown's administration in any nationwide election, confirming what the polls have been showing for months - that the Government is unpopular and heading for defeat at the next election.
For Labour the by-election has simply clothed in flesh a problem that was hanging in the air. The loss of Glasgow East is a cipher for deeper anxieties - and, just possibly, an excuse for the party to grab its fate by the collar and ask the question that it shrank from asking a year ago: does it really trust Gordon Brown to lead Labour into the next election?
Will Labour face or duck that question? Among MPs and sympathisers whom I talk to there seem to be three opinions: 1. Carry on regardless; 2. Postpone the decision until after the party conference in the autumn; or 3. Start the ball rolling to replace the leader now.
The real choice is between 1 and 3. To postpone the decision until autumn is a cop-out, a cloak for doing nothing. Next autumn equals never.
If in its heart the party wants to carry on regardless, that's fine. There are occasions in history when hammering on and hoping for the best has paid dividends. Paralysis is a respectable option. Continued
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This is what the new political map of Britain would look like if David Cameron won a landslide general election victory.
If an election were called tomorrow, the Tory leader could well expect to sweep the board with a victory similar to Tony Blair's triumph in 1997. While there has been speculation about what Britain would look like if last week's Glasgow East by-election swing of 22 per cent were repeated throughout the country, strategists know that is all but impossible.
A more likely scenario is a 10 per cent swing to the Tories. If this were achieved - alongside a corresponding 10 per cent swing to the SNP in Scotland - key Cabinet ministers would lose their seats, including Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, Lord Chancellor and MP for Blackburn; Jacqui Smith, Home Secretary and MP for Redditch; Des Browne, Defence Secretary and MP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun; John Hutton, Business Secretary and MP for Barrow and Furness, and Ruth Kelly, Transport Secretary and MP for Bolton West.
Labour could also lose many of its future hopefuls, raising the possibility of its being consigned to the electoral wilderness for decades. On an 11 per cent swing, Andy Burnham, the Culture Secretary, tipped as a future leader, would go, as would James Purnell, the Work and Pensions Secretary.
Mr Cameron would have a Commons majority of 90. The Conservatives would have 370 seats, Labour 193, the Liberal Democrats would have 54 seats and other parties 33. Continued
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The largest provider of NHS bedside phone services has gone into administration with debts approaching £90 million.
Despite complaints about the high cost of phone calls charged to patients using its services, Patientline was unable to make a profit and applied for its shares to be suspended from trading on the London Stock Exchange on Friday.
The service had incurred the anger of patients' families who had to pick up the bill for the 49p per minute cost charged to patients for receiving incoming calls at their bedside.
The Patients Association, a charity, had received dozens of complaints from poor families who had spent over £100 keeping in touch with a relative in hospital.
Patientline was launched in 1994 to win contracts from NHS trusts to install beside consoles providing phones, television and entertainment to sick and recovering patients. But it was later persuaded by the Department of Health to upgrade the equipment so it could be used by doctors to call up patient records at their bedside and for patients to order meals. Continued
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Grim economic figures out yesterday show that the UK is on the brink of a recession, experts warned last night.
The economy grew by just 0.2 per cent in April, May and June, official statistics revealed.
Along with the first three months of 2005, it was the weakest quarter for seven years.
It meant the economy grew at an annual 1.6 per cent, the slowest for three years. The Office for National Statistics pointed mainly to weakness in housebuilding and construction.
Crunch
The economy is officially in recession when it has suffered two consecutive quarters of negative growth.
Hetal Mehta, of the Ernst & Young ITEM Club, said last night: “These numbers increase the risk of recession.
“The impacts of the credit crunch and the squeeze on real incomes caused by rising commodity prices are clear.”
Paul Dales, UK economist at consultancy Capital Economics, said: “An outright recession is now our central scenario.
“With industrial production having fallen in both the first and second quarters, industry is already in recession.”
Howard Wheeldon, of broker BGC Partners, added: “Negative growth will surely be the name of the game for the next few quarters.” News Source
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The record industry is as outdated as shipbuilding. Artists no longer need it to get their music out.
The record companies are once again crying over spilt milk. When they experienced a windfall from the compact disc in the Eighties, instead of giving back the love, the industry made the customer feel guilty with its “home taping is killing music” campaign.
Now it is trying to stop illegal downloads by brokering a deal with internet service providers to reduce internet speeds for transgressors. But the £1 billion that the industry estimates it will lose in the next five years due to file sharing is already long gone. The game changed years ago, and a generation has grown up believing that it doesn't have to pay to hear music. It's hard to see why even younger fans would feel different.
The BPI, the industry's trade association, has spoken of a “richer, legal music downloading experience” on the way, which is like a power company promising a more fulfilling electrical connection. EMI is like Vickers and CD production is like shipbuilding - the old model is crumbling. A small label could issue, say, an old Manfred Mann album licensed from Universal for about a sixth of what it would cost Universal itself to put it out. The infrastructure of these companies is labyrinthine and outmoded; trying to cover their overheads with threatening letters and guilt trips won't stop that.
The long-term prospects are bleaker still - new technology has made music a cottage industry. It is so cheap to get recorded music to the audience that artists no longer need a major label. The industry has been in a similar quandary before; rock'n'roll and, later, punk created an opportunity for DIY labels, run out of bedrooms and shacks, to tear huge chunks out of the lethargic, lumbering majors. The present problem, however, is more long-term. Continued
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Britain imports more illegal timber than almost any other country in Europe, a new report claims.
Almost one-fifth of wood imported into the EU in 2006 came from illegal sources, according to WWF. And the UK imported 3.5m cubic metres of illegal wood making it the second biggest importer behind Finland.
This included the biggest quantities of furniture, finished wood products, sawn wood and plywood of all EU states.
WWF claims that in total the EU imported between 26.5m and 31m cubic metres of illegal wood and related products in 2006, equal to the total amount of wood harvested in Poland in the same year. Most came from Russia, Indonesia and China.
The conservation organisation claims its findings demonstrated the need for stronger European laws to prevent illegal wood entering EU markets. Continued
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Note: Previous Links have been Archived under More News
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the Lunacy of the EU, the British Government
and the result of the Insanity now affecting our Society
Decent People like YOU having to put up with
These days, we read every week about someone who has driven into something enormous and then blamed their sat-nav system.
Just the other day, a party of actors drove merrily into a swollen river and, after they’d been rescued from the stranded van by the fire brigade, said it was all the sat-nav’s fault.
Right. I see. So if you were driving towards Beachy Head and the lady in the dashboard said “straight on”, you’d do it, would you?
Then we heard about a woman — I shall spare your blushes, Paula, by keeping you anonymous — who has vowed never to use satellite navigation again after her system ordered her into the path of a speeding train.
Of course, I’m not going to try to argue that all sat-nav systems are foolproof.
Indeed, the system used by BMW is hysterically terrible. It has never heard of the A40, the A1 or even the Fosse Way, which has been around for 2,000 years.
Then you have Mercedes, whose sat-nav-based traffic system is a work of fiction to rival Harry Potter. If it says the road ahead is blocked, you can absolutely guarantee it isn’t.
The best I’ve ever come across, weirdly, is the cheap handheld TomTom. It knows about the A40, for instance, and it’s so easy to understand, even a Syrian lorry driver could manage. Continued
The 'Holocaust' Marxists don't want you to remember!
There are many ways to commit Genocide other than with Bullets and missiles
Starvation, Ethnic cleansing by political means, and limiting birth rates!
The demented Roman Emperor Caligula once mused that if all the people of Rome had one neck he would cut it just to be rid of his troublesome people.
The trouble was there were simply too many Romans to kill them all.
Many centuries later, the brutal Soviet dictator Josef Stalin reflected that he would have liked to deport the entire Ukrainian nation, but 20 million were too many to move even for him.
So he found another solution: starvation.
Now, 75 years after one of the great forgotten crimes of modern times, Stalin's man-made famine of 1932/3, the former Soviet republic of Ukraine is asking the world to classify it as a genocide.
The Ukrainians call it the Holodomor - the Hunger.
Millions starved as Soviet troops and secret policemen raided their villages, stole the harvest and all the food in villagers' homes.
They dropped dead in the streets, lay dying and rotting in their houses, and some women became so desperate for food that they ate their own children.
If they managed to fend off starvation, they were deported and shot in their hundreds of thousands.
So terrible was the famine that Igor Yukhnovsky, director of the Institute of National Memory, the Ukrainian institution researching the Holodomor, believes as many as nine million may have died.
For decades the disaster remained a state secret, denied by Stalin and his Soviet government and concealed from the outside world with the help of the 'useful idiots' - as Lenin called Soviet sympathisers in the West.
Russia is furious that Ukraine has raised the issue of the famine: the swaggering 21st-century state of Prime Minister Putin and President Medvedev see this as nationalist chicanery designed to promote Ukraine, which may soon join Nato and the EU.
They see it as an anti-Russian manoeuvre more to do with modern politics than history. And they refuse to recognise this old crime as a genocide.
A leading art gallery is being taken to court over claims that it outraged public decency by displaying a statue depicting Christ with an erection.
The sculpture was the most provocative item in an exhibition at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead.
Other pieces in the show by the controversial Chinese-born artist Terence Koh included models of Mickey Mouse and ET, also with erections.
Despite signs warning of the exhibition’s explicit nature, the gallery, which opened in 2003 after a £35million grant from the Arts Council, received numerous complaints.
A private prosecution has now been launched and the first hearing in what could prove a landmark case has been set for September.
Legal documents claim that the gallery has both offended public decency and breached Section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986.
The maximum penalty for outraging public decency is six months’ imprisonment and a £5,000 fine.
The documents claim that the foot-high sculpture was ‘offensive and disgusting’ and ‘likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress to Christians and those of other faiths’.
Legal experts said yesterday that the hearing would be the first test of public decency legislation since the Government scrapped Britain’s ancient blasphemy laws in May. Continued
A Man has been convicted at the Old Bailey today (July 25) of the murder of a 20-year-old stabbed during a gang robbery in the street.
Donald Vincent died at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel just two hours after being stabbed for the sake of two mobile phones the gang fled with.
A police chief today praised the many witnesses from the communities of Walthamstow and Ilford who came forward to give evidence in court about the attack 10 months ago.
"Donald Vincent was murdered for nothing more than a couple of mobile phones," said Det Chief Ins Carl Mehta, who led Scotland Yard's Homicide & Serious Crime Command investigation.
"The level of violence used against him on the night he was attacked was simply shocking.
"We can only hope today's convictions offers some comfort to Donald's loving mother and family who have shown such dignity throughout this lengthy trial."
He gave thanks to the witnesses for their stand to see justice done.
"Their assistance and courage made sure those responsible for Donald's attack and murder were held accountable for their actions," he added.
Police were called on the evening of September 12 last year to Prospect Hill in Walthamstow, where they found Donald bleeding from a wound to the heart.
He was taken to the Royal London, but died less than two hours later. A post mortem gave cause of death as a stab wound to the heart.
In court, Quentin Jermaine Farrell, a 23-year-old from Danehurst-gardens in Barkingside, was found guilty today of Donald's murder and is due to be sentenced on August 4.
A teenager and three other men were previously convicted of conspiring to rob Mr Vincent that night.
They are 19-years-old Muhiddin Hyder Muhiddin from Navestock-crescent in Woodford Green, 23-year-olds Deric Darko from Kingston-road in Ilford and Djodjo Osango from Navestock-crescent in Woodford Green, and 26-years-old James Farrell from Forest-road in Walthamstow. These four are being sentenced at the Old Bailey on a date to be set.
Detectives established that all five had planned to rob Donald as he walked home along Prospect Hill.
Quentin and James Farrell approached him, but it was Quentin who plunged the knife through Donald's lung and heart.
All the gang escaped with were two mobile phones. News Source
Homosexual clergy will be barred from becoming bishops in the Anglican communion under controversial new plans backed by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Liberals will be warned that they face being expelled from the heart of Anglicanism unless they respect the ban, The Sunday Telegraph has learnt.
The American church caused deep divisions between conservatives and liberals when it consecrated Gene Robinson as the first openly homosexual Anglican bishop in 2003.
There have been reports that it is prepared to consecrate more gay bishops while the Archbishop of Wales, Dr Barry Morgan, told this newspaper that he would be willing to do the same.
The proposal to ban future consecrations is the most significant move yet over the issue.
The paper, which was commissioned by Dr Rowan Williams, will be debated by 650 bishops tomorrow at the Lambeth conference in Canterbury, the once-a-decade gathering of the Anglican Communion.
It is set to start the first real clash of the conference, with liberal bishops expected to fight any attempt to restrict their autonomy.
However, Dr Williams is determined to impose tighter governance of the Anglican Communion to try and hold it together.
The paper, "How do we get from here to there?", stresses that it is vital that an Anglican Covenant be agreed so that churches around the world are mutually accountable and united by a common set of beliefs. This must happen as soon as possible, it says, to prevent further haemorrhaging of the Anglican Communion over the issue of homosexual clergy. News Source
Is it a golf buggy? Is it a milk float? No, it's the first all-green vehicle to be used by UK police
With a top speed of around 30mph, Gene Hunt wouldn't be seen dead in it - but this car is the first 100 per cent electric vehicle to be used by a British police force.
Resembling a golf buggy, the Gem Car is being tested out by Sussex Police.
But officers are unlikely to be racing after getaway cars in it like DCI Hunt and his cronies from TV's Life On Mars and Ashes To Ashes.
The Gem is being tried out to see if it could become a key part of community policing, and has been loaned to the Brighton and Hove division to enable neighbourhood officers to travel to street briefings and make local visits.
Sussex is believed to be the first force in the UK to be using a vehicle which has zero emissions and could run purely on solar power, a police spokesman said.
The two-seater Gem Cars are already used in the United States by police forces in New York, Los Angeles and Miami.
The Gem - short for Global Electric Motorcars, part of the Chrysler group - costs £12,500 and is classified as an electric quadracycle, so does not need to display a front registration plate.
Brighton and Hove's version has full Sussex Police livery - though no blue lights.
Police chiefs say it is perfect for local officers to navigate through built-up parts of Brighton and Hove, with a large storage space and a 50-mile range before its batteries need to be recharged.
More than 40,000 Gem Cars have been sold worldwide and they have been used by Nasa. They are exempt from road tax and the London congestion charge, according to the manufacturer's website.
Sussex Police's trial of the Gem Car will last for just over a week, and it will be in evidence at the annual Gay Pride event in Preston Park next Saturday.
A police spokesman said that following the trial, a decision will be taken on whether to invest in one of the vehicles permanently. News Source
A murder investigation was under way today after one man died and another was critically injured in a street gang knife fight.
Police who were called to the incident in Gaythorne Road, West Bowling, yesterday found three men with stab wounds – three other people, including a woman, have now been arrested on suspicion of murder.
The injured, a 17-year-old, 22-year-old and 24-year-old, all from Bradford were taken to Bradford Royal Infirmary. Surgeons battled to save the 22-year-old but he died shortly before 3am today.
The 24-year-old, who also had surgery, remains in a critical condition, said detectives.
The 17-year-old was released after treatment for a laceration. Two men, aged 42 and 25, and a woman aged 34 are being held for questioning at different police stations across the county.
The murder investigation is being led by Detective Superintendent Tim Forber, of West Yorkshire Police homicide and major enquiry team. Initial reports from bystanders suggest there had been fighting for about 20 minutes between rival black and Asian gangs.
One of the men had been stabbed in front of a three-storey terraced house in Parsonage Road which runs alongside Gaythorne Lane, said a witness. Police said although the investigation was still in its early stages, the incident was “not a random attack.” News Source
Energy supplier EDF stunned customers yesterday by raising prices by A FIFTH.
The French-owned firm, which supplies 5.5million UK households, announced an immediate 22 per cent hike in gas prices and 17 per cent in electricity.
The move — the second time EDF has raised prices this year — will add around £143 to average annual gas bills and £65 to electricity bills.
It sparked fears other members of the Big Six suppliers — Npower, EON, British Gas, Scottish Power and Scottish & Southern Energy — will also increase prices.
Experts said the UK could be on course for an overall increase of 61 per cent in energy bills this year to an average £1,467 — the biggest ever annual hike.
Consumer and pensioner groups attacked the EDF move. Adam Scorer, of Energywatch, said: “The scale of these rises will be a hammer blow to many.
“If EDF’s fellow energy suppliers follow suit then fuel poverty will be visiting more than one million new households.
“The number of pensioners and families in extreme fuel poverty will also soar.” Gordon Lishman, of Age Concern, said the hikes would “horrify” pensioners struggling to pay household bills. Continued
A group of more than 40 people armed with iron bars and knives has attacked a holding centre for asylum seekers in Norway, injuring more than 20 people.
The attack, at a centre in Valer, 60km (40 miles) south of Oslo, was sparked by a disagreement between two groups of asylum seekers, reports said.
No-one was seriously hurt but 10 people reportedly needed hospital treatment.
The Nordbybraten centre houses 200 refugees from Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Russia, Somalia and Eritrea.
Police said they were investigating the incident, but had made no arrests.
The head of the facility, Ole Morten Lyng, said the cause of the attack appeared to be a minor dispute between two groups at the centre that had been blown out of proportion.
Reports in local media suggest Chechens had been involved in long-running disagreements with other Muslims at the centre over religious practices. News Source
A Teenager is in a serious condition after being stabbed during a street brawl.
A member of the public reported seeing a large fight between a large number of black youths in Brettenham Road at midnight Thursday.
Police officers and ambulance crews arrived to find a teenager with stab wounds. The 18-year-old was taken to Whipps Cross University Hospital and is still receiving treatment for facial injuries
Daniela Olieeros, 23, of Brettenham Road, was sitting in her living room when she heard lots of shouting and swearing in the street.
She said: “I head them coming down the road and they were shouting that they were going to beat people up. They were talking about a girl, and called her a b****.”
Mrs Olieeros looked out of her window and saw a group of 15 to 20 black men, aged between about 16 and 21. She said they all seemed to know one another, and were dressed in jeans and t-shirts.
“Some had no shirts on like they were ready to fight”, she said. “I got really anxious because I could see them coming en masse and was wondering what they were going to do.”
She telephoned the police who arrived shortly afterwards and closed off one end of the road. Shortly after, the group could be heard getting away from the police.
She said: “They came back and I heard more shouting. It was really scary. They were throwing bottles and throwing stuff against a car. They were still cursing a girl, and one was saying he was going to kill her.”
Many other residents were kept awake by the noise of the group fighting and police sirens. No arrests have been made and police say they are keeping an open mind about the motive.
The road was closed from until about 4am while officers investigated. News Source
More than 260 churches belonging to the Church of England have ceased to be used for regular worship in the past decade, according to new figures.
The figures, released by the Government in response to a Parliamentary question, show that 29 Anglican churches closed last year, the highest figure since 2004.
Earlier this year, this newspaper disclosed that churches of all denominations were closing at a rate of two a week.
The number of churches is forecast to fall from 48,500 now to 39,200 by 2030. Church leaders have warned that the crisis threatens to devastate parishes and deprive communities of important focal points.
Responding to these concerns, The Sunday Telegraph's Save Britain's Churches campaign is calling for measures to keep churches at the heart of community life, including funding for repairs and grants to help them adapt to community use.
More than 8,000 people have backed the campaign, including the leader of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, the actress Prunella Scales and Sir John Mortimer, the writer.
Eric Pickles, the shadow communities and local government secretary, warned that this was a "sign of the breakdown of the social fabric of our nation". He added: "I fear such closures have been fuelled by the Labour Government and Left-wing councils actively discriminating against Christian organisations and faith groups."
Andrew Edwards, the chief executive of the National Churches Trust, said that churches should open themselves up to community use, but they should retain an element of public worship and "remain doing what they were built to do". News Source
The story is a shocking indication of just how far Britain has slid into a fully fledged police state, one which would make even zealous Gestapo officers blush. Hence this story is tribute to the Democratic Gestapo of modern Britain:
“I am 43 years old. The other day, while I was in Gloucester town centre with my two children when I came across an Islamic propagation stall. I started a conversation with the people manning the stall, who told me that the 7/7 bombings were a plot against Islam and UK were the terrorists!
I was further outraged when they told my children that before they die they would be Muslim and that the UK would be an Islamic state.
I went away and complained to police, who took statements from me. The result? The Muslims complained about me, and that evening I received a visit from the police who issued me an official warning for being a “racist.” In fact, all I said was that Islam is dangerous cult, and did not mention any races at all.
I refused to accept the police’s warning, but the real issue is this: the police dropped my complaint against the Islamic group - and I have found out that one of the Islamic group was an off-duty police officer! The police have obviously taken their word over mine, without trying to investigate it in anyway.
Where has this country’s common sense gone? In Birmingham, a few months ago, a Christian was detained for distributing free Bibles in the city centre . . . so where is the consistency in police enforcement? I am shocked and stunned.” News Source
Some of the Victims of Stalin's Holocaust by Hunger
Green machine, Milk Float or Noddy Car? Community officer Kelly Joel shows off Sussex Police's borrowed Gem Car
Quentin Farrell guilty of murder, Muhiddin , Darko, Osango and James Farrell conspiracy to rob
I particularly enjoyed reading last Tuesday about a Syrian lorry driver who’d ended up beached on a small road in Skegness — while trying to get from Turkey to Gibraltar.
Needless to say, he claimed his sat-nav had gone mad but it had done no such thing. He’d simply given it the wrong destination.
We’re not talking about Mr Intelligence here. Because he’d presumably come to Britain on a cross-Channel ferry and at no point did his tiny little brain think: “Hang on a minute . . . ”
Yobs filmed themselves beating a cab driver senseless.
The drunken gang of Swindon teenagers left Mark Boditch for dead when they stole his taxi.
Five teenagers admitted their part in the attack at Gloucester Crown Court yesterday.
Ben Blackmore, 18, of Naunton Road, Walcot, drank a bottle a bottle of Jack Daniel’s whiskey before the attack.
His barrister told the court this was an example of the drinking culture of today’s young people.
Paul Orton, defending said: “The society we live in encourages them to go and drink. That’s how it is and that’s how it was on this particular night.”
Blackmore, admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent on Mr Boditch and aggravated taking of his taxi. He was sentenced to four and a half years detention and banned from driving for three years.
Laura Taylor, 18, of Essex Walk, Walcot, filmed her friends trying to steal money from the glove box of Mr Boditch’s cab, and Blackmore attacking the driver. Witnesses described seeing Blackmore stamp on the driver’s head.
Her recording of the mayhem inside the cab before and after Mr Boditch was attacked and left at the roadside was played to Judge William Hart. Continued
Millions of households may be paying too much for gas and electricity because of a lack of transparency and competition in the market, the head of an influential committee of MPs has warned.
Peter Luff, the Conservative chairman of the all-party Commons business and enterprise committee, spoke out following a series of steep price increases by domestic suppliers, including a 20 per cent rise announced on Friday by the French-owned EDF.
Mr Luff, an EDF customer, said he was considering switching to a rival supplier after the latest price rise.
A report to be published by his committee is expected to say that British energy markets are not operating efficiently, with lack of competition having serious consequences for millions of households, especially the less-well-off.
The report is expected to recommend that Ofgem and the Competition Commission investigate whether any of the "big six" suppliers have an excessive market share.
Mr Luff said: "Although it is clear that prices will rise, we can't be sure whether individual companies are making the right call on their own because there is a lack of transparency."
He said of EDF's move: "I am as surprised as anyone by these price rises. They are significant enough to make me consider switching suppliers, especially because we use quite a lot of gas as a family.
"We have already discussed how we are going to cut heating bills this winter.
"It's unthinkable that other companies won't be following the lead of EDF, but consumers need to be given confidence in knowing that the market is working as well as it possibly can."
Julie Kirkbride another Conservative committee member, warned of a real concern about lack of competition. "The dilemma is that we want companies that are big enough to invest in new energy supplies but at the same time you don't want them to have too big a share of the market and for it not to be competitive," she said.
"We want smaller companies to come in and invest, but our concern is that this is not being allowed to happen." Continued
Britain could move to a tougher US-style regime of first and second-degree murder under a shake-up of the homicide laws to be unveiled by ministers this week.
Harriet Harman, the Commons Leader, will outline the proposed changes during her week in charge of the country while Gordon Brown is on holiday.
The overhaul is largely based on recommendations by the Law Commission in 2006 which proposed the biggest shake-up of the laws on homicide for more than 50 years.
Instead of only being able to charge defendants with either murder or manslaughter, prosecuting authorities may be able to choose from a wider range of options.
These would include first-degree murder, where the offender intends to kill; second-degree murder, where the offender intends to cause serious harm but causes death; and manslaughter, for cases involving negligence or the intention to cause some but not serious harm, which result in death.
Scores of killers who are now charged with manslaughter would no longer be able to escape a murder charge. The new plans also signal the end of the mandatory life sentence for all murderers, a regime that dates back to the abolition of the death penalty more than 40 years ago.
Under the changes, while first-degree murder would carry a mandatory life sentence, judges in cases of second-degree murder would have the discretion to impose a fixed-term sentence. Continued
A third of Muslim students in Britain believe killing someone in the name of religion is justified, a new poll claims.
The survey found that extreme Islamist ideology has a profound influence on a significant minority of Muslims on campuses across the country.
The findings will concern police chiefs, the security services and ministers, who are struggling with radicalisation among Muslim communities.
The YouGov poll was conducted for the Right-wing think tank, the Centre for Social Cohesion, at 12 universities, including Imperial College and Kings College London. It also found:
- 40 per cent support the introduction of sharia into British law for Muslims
- a third back the notion of a worldwide Islamic caliphate (state) based on sharia law
- 40 per feel it is unacceptable for Muslim men and women to mix freely
- 24 per cent do not think men and women are equal in the eyes of Allah
- a quarter have little or no respect for homosexuals.
Although 53 per cent said that killing in the name of religion was never justified, compared with 94 per cent of non-Muslims, 32 per cent said that it was. Of these, 4 per cent said
killing could be justified to "promote or preserve" religion, while 28 per cent said it was acceptable if that religion were under attack.
There was also sympathy for the view that Muslim soldiers in the Armed Forces should be allowed to opt out of operations in Muslim countries, with 57 per cent agreeing.
The report's authors found that Islamic societies on campus, operating under the umbrella of the Federation of Student Islamic Societies, exert a strong influence on many of Britain's 90,000 Muslim students. A quarter of them belong to Islamic societies and their views are often more extreme.
While three-fifths of society members said that killing in the name of religion was acceptable, an equal number of non-member Muslims said it was never justified. The security services have identified Islamist activism at universities acts as a possible "gateway" to violent extremism. Several terrorists and sympathisers began their extremist careers on campuses.
The authors of the report, "Islam on Campus", lay much of the blame for extremism among Muslim students on the group Hizb ut-Tahrir, which seeks to build a worldwide Islamic state.
YouGov polled 600 Muslim students and 800 non-Muslim students at universities with a high number of Muslims. News Source
And Yet:
In many European countries, including France, wearing full Muslim dress or even headscarves in public is often frowned upon.
But a United Nations committee said it was concerned that “negative public attitudes towards Muslim members of society” were developing in the UK.
But a source said: “Funnily enough, they didn’t seem to mention the treatment of non-Muslims in Saudi Arabia and Iran.”
Sir Andrew Green, chairman of MigrationWatch, said: “Comments of this kind from a UN committee are most unlikely to have a positive effect on public opinion in Britain.”
The row comes as hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers whose cases were lost or overlooked are set to be given “effective amnesty”, say critics.
Human rights laws mean many asylum seekers have been here so long they probably will not even have to prove their case to stay in the UK.
Two years ago the Home Office discovered it had a backlog of 450,000 cases. So far only 90,000 of them have been processed, with half staying. News Source