http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/britain/ en-us Sun, 12 Oct 2008 16:35:59 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2103828/posts Bodies of the dead not being buried in echo of Winter of Discontent as effects of credit crunch spread across Britain By Glen Owen Last updated at 1:24 AM on 12th October 2008 The spectre of the Winter of Discontent threatened to return to haunt Labour last night after funeral directors revealed that the burial of 'hundreds' of bodies is being delayed for financial reasons. In a bleak new sign of the growing economic crisis, hard-up families are having to wait more than two months before receiving Government money for funerals. Organisations representing undertakers accused the Government of putting them... Daily Mail http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2103828/posts#comment Sun, 12 Oct 2008 16:35:59 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2103824/posts Bank shares set 'to be suspended' as Government hammers out ₤35bn bail-out of RBS and HBOS By Andrew Leach and Dan Atkinson Last updated at 3:03 PM on 12th October 2008 Banking shares could be suspended tomorrow while the Government agrees a ₤35billion lifeline for some of Britain's biggest banks The Treasury and bank chiefs are understood to be locked in talks today over a bail-out of several household names. Royal Bank of Scotland, HBoS, Lloyds TSB and Barclays, whose share prices and balance sheets have been crushed by the credit crunch, are expected to be first in the queue... http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2103824/posts#comment Sun, 12 Oct 2008 16:28:43 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2103668/posts   Infertility fear: Emma Smith, 37, with her son Oliver   Baby boy for woman in double transplantSophie Goodchild and Anna Davis 10.10.08 A woman who had a double organ transplant has defied the odds to become a mother, the Standard can reveal today.Emma Smith, 37, feared she may be infertile because of the side-effects of her anti-rejection drugs.But last week, the former secretary from Hitchin in Hertfordshire gave birth without complications to her first child 6lb baby Oliver.She is the first woman in Britain to deliver a child by Caesarean section after receiving donor kidneys and a pancreas.Her... The Evening Standard (U.K.) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2103668/posts#comment Sun, 12 Oct 2008 10:06:22 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2103662/posts Club bomb plotters hailed rickshaws to make their getaway’Justin Davenport, Crime Correspondent 10.10.08 Two alleged Islamist terrorists left car bombs packed with nails and petrol in London's West End and then escaped from the scene by hailing rickshaws, a court heard today.Bilal Abdulla, 29, and Kafeel Ahmed, 28, parked one of the cars outside the packed Tiger Tiger club in Haymarket and the other in front of a busy bus stop. The two Mercedes were left in the early hours of 29 June last year but failed to explode because the detonators did not work properly, Woolwich crown court... The Evening Standard (U.K.) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2103662/posts#comment Sun, 12 Oct 2008 09:34:29 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2101938/posts Iran row looms over release of Fowzi Badavi Nejad Oct.10, 2008 The only surviving terrorist from the 1980 siege of the Iranian Embassy in London is to be freed within days amid fears that his release will trigger a diplomatic row with Iran. Fowzi Badavi Nejad will be released and allowed to stay in Britain, but Iran wants him returned to Tehran to face trial for the murder of two hostages killed during the siege. The Foreign Office has failed to win assurances that Nejad would not suffer torture or death if he were returned on his release after serving... TimesOnline - UK http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2101938/posts#comment Fri, 10 Oct 2008 02:25:09 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2101931/posts Iceland PM fumes over use of U.K. terrorism law to freeze banks' assets /snip The small North Atlantic island country, population 320,000, protested the U.K. government's decision to protect British depositors by freezing the assets of collapsed Icelandic banks under anti-terrorism laws. Prime Minister Geir H. Haarde called the move a "completely unfriendly act" and blamed Britain in part for Iceland's decision to take control of Kaupthing, the country's largest bank, on Thursday. It was the third Icelandic bank to be taken over by the government this week. A stock market boom in the mid-1990s supported the rapid growth of... MSN Money Canada http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2101931/posts#comment Fri, 10 Oct 2008 02:22:19 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2100122/posts Taxpayers will be committed today to providing more than £50 billion to bail out high street banks in an attempt to avert a cataclysmic failure of confidence. Alistair Darling was due to tell the City in an early morning announcement today that the sum will be available for “investment” in banks that have demanded help from the Government. The drastic rescue move is designed to help to reassure savers and to kickstart the paralysed credit markets by encouraging banks to lend to each other again. After meeting Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank of England, Downing Street was forced... Times Online http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2100122/posts#comment Wed, 8 Oct 2008 03:07:05 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2099065/posts Britain to Spy On Every Call, Email and Text Monday, October 6, 2008 5:10 PM A top secret program being developed by British spymasters soon may allow them to snoop on every computer, text message and phone call in the United Kingdom, according to plans revealed this week. The program — called the Interception Modernization Program — is part of a $20 billion effort being pushed by GCHQ, the government’s secret eavesdropping agency, according to the Times of London. It would easily be the largest surveillance system ever created in Britain, and quite possibly any Western democracy. The British already... Newsmax.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2099065/posts#comment Mon, 6 Oct 2008 23:30:36 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2098347/posts Ministers are considering spending up to £12 billion on a database to monitor and store the internet browsing habits, e-mail and telephone records of everyone in Britain. GCHQ, the government’s eavesdropping centre, has already been given up to £1 billion to finance the first stage of the project. Hundreds of clandestine probes will be installed to monitor customers live on two of the country’s biggest internet and mobile phone providers - thought to be BT and Vodafone. BT has nearly 5m internet customers. Ministers are braced for a backlash similar to the one caused by their ID cards programme. Dominic... Times Online http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2098347/posts#comment Mon, 6 Oct 2008 01:29:55 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2097703/posts It was Cardinal Newman's dying wish that he be buried with his closest friend in the grounds of the house they had shared as priests. But now, nearly 120 years after his death, Britain's most famous convert to Roman Catholicism is to be reinterred in a sarcophagus in preparation for his becoming a saint, leaving the remains of his friend behind. The decision to separate the remains of John Henry Newman and Ambrose St John has upset figures in the Church and led some to question whether it is embarrassed about their relationship. They are buried in a grave in... Daily Telegraph http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2097703/posts#comment Sun, 5 Oct 2008 01:06:57 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2097254/posts Malignant, malevolent, mendacious - this creep is a cancer on British life Last updated at 2:03 AM on 04th October 2008 * Comments (0) * Add to My Stories On the day Peter Mandelson was forced to resign in disgrace for the second time, I can remember writing that he wouldn’t be out of work long. He’d get his reward either in Brussels or the House of Lords. Even I didn’t imagine that one day he’d achieve both. Nor that it would be Gordon Brown who brought him back from Brussels and swathed him in ermine. Yes, that Gordon Brown.... Daily Mail http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2097254/posts#comment Sat, 4 Oct 2008 06:54:29 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2093917/posts A group of retired Gurkhas fighting for the right to settle in Britain have won their immigration test case at London's High Court. They were challenging immigration rules which said that those who retired from the British Army before 1997 did not have an automatic right to stay. The government said it would now review all Gurkhas' cases. The regiment moved its main base from Hong Kong to the UK in 1997 and the government had argued that Gurkhas discharged before that date were unlikely to have strong residential ties with the UK. The judge, Mr Justice Blake, said the... BBC News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2093917/posts#comment Tue, 30 Sep 2008 14:47:09 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2095747/posts YouTube has deleted Pat Condell’s latest video, for “terms of use violation.” Which apparently means, “criticism of Saudi Arabia.” So here it is again. lgf http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2095747/posts#comment Thu, 2 Oct 2008 14:26:44 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2094678/posts David Scholey, former director of the Bank of England and ex-chair of Warburg, likes to say that in financial crises it is never too early for officials to panic. Nobody could make that claim of today's Bank of England, Treasury and No 10 - or of the parliamentary opposition. The British financial, official and political class have been astonishingly inactive about the gathering financial crisis - only as Armageddon has loomed has there been any sign of the necessary urgency. However here we are in the aftermath of the nationalisation and forced sale of Bradford & Bingley (B&B) and Britain... The Guardian http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2094678/posts#comment Wed, 1 Oct 2008 07:24:11 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2094011/posts BIRMINGHAM, England - Ahead in opinion polls, boosted by a run of special election victories over the governing Labour Party and newly in charge of London's City Hall, Britain's main opposition Conservatives have every reason to feel cocky. But their leader David Cameron has reined in the celebratory mood at an annual rally in the central England city of Birmingham, insisting on a sober and cautious front as his party plots its course to Downing Street. AP on Yahoo http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2094011/posts#comment Tue, 30 Sep 2008 16:23:29 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2093867/posts A Tyneside pub has called time on one of its regular visitors after the premises were refurbished. Peggy, a 12-year-old mare, used to enjoy a pint of beer and a packet of crisps alongside her owner at the Alexandra Hotel in Jarrow. ............ BBC News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2093867/posts#comment Tue, 30 Sep 2008 14:02:29 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2093203/posts Not many people walk into a bar and walk out with a new leg. But that’s what happened to David Huckvale, 42, who needed a £40,000 bionic leg to walk again. The father-of-two popped down to his local pub on the same day surgeon Alistair Gibson, who specialises in fitting the computer-controlled limb, was there for a pint.... Telegraph (UK) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2093203/posts#comment Mon, 29 Sep 2008 17:16:13 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2090668/posts Gordon Brown is reportedly preparing legislation to repeal the Act of Settlement during the fourth term of a Labour government. The give away as to the likelihood of this happening is at the end of the sentence: the prospect of Labour winning a fourth term is about as great as the return of the Jacobite Pretender. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2090668/posts#comment Fri, 26 Sep 2008 00:41:47 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2089986/posts "Is it a debate for now?" asked Nick Clegg, Lib Dem leader and ex-MEP, of British entry to the euro. "No. I think it's off the radar screen," he said at his party's annual conference this week. Like Gordon Brown, he gave the stock response to the decade-long question: "We'll join when the time is right." Even in this era of wild currency fluctuations and financial meltdown, there's no appetite in Britain for joining the single currency. But, in Nice last weekend for the informal meeting of EU finance ministers and a heavyweight conference on financial supervision organised by thinktank... The Guardian http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2089986/posts#comment Thu, 25 Sep 2008 06:50:02 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2089084/posts When the majestic white-tailed sea eagle was re-introduced to mainland Britain after nearly a century, nature lovers were thrilled. But the huge birds of prey have not found any fans among farmers, who have labelled them ‘winged vermin’ and claim they have killed more than 200 lambs. The area around one sea eagle nest was described as a ‘sheep graveyard’. The return of the sea eagle has been hailed as a great conservation victory after they were wiped out early last century. The birds were brought from Norway in a project by Scottish Natural Heritage, RSPB Scotland and the... The Daily Mail (U.K.) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2089084/posts#comment Wed, 24 Sep 2008 04:58:31 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2089025/posts Actor Sir Ian McKellen has revealed he is to tour Britain's schools preaching about gay tolerance. The openly gay star, who is best known to youngsters as Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings blockbusters, wants to encourage other homosexual men to go back to their former schools and lecture pupils on homophobia. Revealing his campaign in gay magazine Attitude, Sir Ian said: 'I’ve been busy at quite a few schools recently. I went to a wonderful co-ed faith school in Harpenden. 'They were Christians and absolutely determined that their pupils did not discriminate. They invited me to come and... dailymail.co.uk http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2089025/posts#comment Wed, 24 Sep 2008 02:46:50 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2087477/posts     Stealthy ... Brit Jon with B2 bomber        Exclusive   RAF pilot is one hell of a guy     By JOHN KAY Published: Today     AN RAF Top Gun known as “Killers” has been recruited to fly the world’s deadliest aircraft for the elite US Grim Reapers squadron.   13th bomb squadron ... badge of the elite Grim Reapers  Squadron Leader Jon Killerby pilots the £1billion state-of-the-art Stealth Spirit B2 bomber. The former Tornado ace, 34, is based with the 13th Bomb Squadron in Missouri, US. His flying overalls sport the squadron’s badge... The Sun (U.K.) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2087477/posts#comment Mon, 22 Sep 2008 04:26:45 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2086355/posts Exclusive   You're in the Army now   Undercover ... Russell Sharp in trainingBBC/Kent News and Pics   By JOHN KAY Chief Reporter Published: Today   A BBC reporter who joined the Army to expose bullying may be sent to war, it emerged yesterday. Russell Sharp, 25, did 15 weeks before lying so he could quit on “compassionate” grounds. And last night after furious top brass found out who he was they threatened to haul him back to complete his training — and send him into action. Senior officers hit the roof because Sharp, whose TV film Undercover Soldier... The Sun (U.K.) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2086355/posts#comment Sat, 20 Sep 2008 04:08:40 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2085875/posts There was a time not so long ago when an American president’s first instinct when faced with an international crisis was to call up Downing Street to solicit the thoughts of Washington’s closest ally. Within hours of the September 11 attacks in 2001, President George W Bush was on the phone to Tony Blair. Their conversation had a seminal influence on the strategy that led to the overthrow of the Taliban in Afghanistan, which had provided a haven for the attackers. In the spring of 2002, when it seemed that India and Pakistan were on the brink of launching all-out... UK Telegraph http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2085875/posts#comment Fri, 19 Sep 2008 14:59:52 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2085609/posts   CORNWALL, UK (18 Sep 2008) — It is a mystery that has perplexed treasure-hunters for centuries: how to find the wreck of a ship that sank carrying not only the world's most famous actress, but her fantastic riches.Now two British divers claim to have found the Nancy, which was smashed on rocks off Cornwall in a storm in 1784.Among those on board the ill-fated voyage from Bombay to London was Ann Cargill, a beautiful opera singer as renowned for her scandalous love-life as her talents.The 24-year-old took her fortune on board the ship after she was expelled from India... CDNN New Zealand http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2085609/posts#comment Fri, 19 Sep 2008 04:34:51 GMT