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For painter and decorator Gordon Williams, his van is simply a means of getting from A to B. But council officials chose to give the vehicle a more lofty status. When they spotted him behind the wheel with a cigarette, they handed him an on-the-spot fine of £30 - for smoking in his place of work.

After being woken for the third time in one night by a group of drunken and noisy students, Jo Calvert-Mindell was at her wits' end. The former policewoman got dressed, went outside and shouted at them: 'Why can't you go back to where you come from and make some noise there? I bet your families and neighbours wouldn't put up with it. 'You don't care about us and do just as you like. What gives you the right to frighten my elderly neighbours, cause damage and keep us awake at night?' She also reported the incident to police, who came...

LONDON, England (CNN) -- A protester who wanted his message to stick managed to superglue himself to the British prime minister Tuesday evening. Dan Glass, right, takes hold of the British PM's right arm just before he was about to receive his award. Dan Glass was at 10 Downing Street to receive a charity's award for his work on transportation issues when he staged the unusual protest. Just before Prime Minister Gordon Brown presented him with the award, Glass squirted superglue in the palm of his left hand. He shook Brown's right hand and then grabbed the prime minister's sleeve....

European Union foreign ministers say they will not support a military strike on Iran but want more talks to try to resolve worries Tehran might be developing nuclear weapons. British Foreign Secretary David Miliband says it is now up to Iran to respond to global powers and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana after talks in Geneva on Saturday.

The acre, one of Britain's historic imperial measurements, is to be banned from use under a new European directive. The measurement, which will officially be replaced by the hectare, will no longer be allowed when land is being registered. After being agreed last week, the new ruling will come into force in January 2010. The Tories are angry that unlike some other EU countries, who sent Cabinet-level ministers to the meeting on 15 July, the Government only sent Jonathan Shaw, a junior minister at the Department for Environment Farming and Rural Affairs, to represent Britain's interests. Mark Francois, the Shadow...

Floating Around Europe New & Old... Old Europe tends to tell the U.S. what to do (about taxation, welfarism, Islamofascist terror, and foreign policy). New Europe -- perhaps more appreciative of America's role in its own de-satellization -- tends to want to learn from us, to take our lead, or even (on, e.g., taxation) to show us the way... Floating around for two weeks in Europe old and new, it certainly seems so -- not least in a service level, a desire to please visitors and customers, rarely seen in the U.S. That hospitality, even with the dollar plunged to...

Meretz MK Yossi Beilin on Thursday called on European countries to declare how many Palestinian refugees and their descendants they would be willing to absorb as part of any future peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. "It is important that we know now how many Palestinian refugees [third] countries are willing to absorb, so that when we get to the critical moment [of a peace agreement] we will be prepared for such an eventuality, and be able to carry it out," Beilin said in an interview with The Jerusalem Post. The dovish lawmaker made the remarks one day after...

Father-of-three branded a 'pervert' - for photographing his own children in public park By David Wilkes Last updated at 1:46 AM on 16th July 2008 When Gary Crutchley started taking pictures of his children playing on an inflatable slide he thought they would be happy reminders of a family day out. But the innocent snaps of seven-year-old Cory, and Miles, five, led to him being called a ‘pervert’.

Paris in the month of May was in full aphrodisiac bloom. The girls were swinging along the boulevards in their short, flowery skirts, their hair flowing loose behind them. On the radio, the singer Tino Rossi - France's answer to Rudolph Valentino - belted out his latest romantic favourite. But a few short weeks later, on June, 14, 1940, the German army marched into the capital and occupied it for four years. France has never forgotten its humiliation - or its bewilderment - in having to adjust to a life of close proximity to the old enemy, with all the...

When Gary Crutchley started taking pictures of his children playing on an inflatable slide he thought they would be happy reminders of a family day out. But the innocent snaps of seven-year-old Cory, and Miles, five, led to him being called a ‘pervert’.snip

LONDON: One in five parliamentarians in Britain suffers from mental illness caused by the stress of their public lives, a confidential survey of MPs and peers has found. Those questioned said they feared disclosing their struggles because of stigma and discrimination. The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Mental Health questionnaire was completed by 94 parliamentarians, 100 lords and 151 parliamentary staff. According to the survey, more than a quarter had a mental health issue, while 86 per cent of MPs said their job was stressful. The group's report is critical of the law forcing MPs to give up their seat for...

MORE British Insanity Mother Needs Criminal Record Check Before Accompanying Epileptic Son to SchoolThe Brits are entering the terminal stages of The Nanny State. While their streets are awash in criminals, the schools failing, the Health Care system on the respirator, and Islam on the verge of being the new royalty, the Brits have redoubled their efforts to make life more difficult for British families. From the Daily Mail. (How do they find this stuff? Hotline?) "Mother stopped from travelling with son in taxi to school - because she hasn't had a criminal record check" Yep. In Britain a mother...

An outraged father of three enjoying a day out with his young sons in a U.K. park was branded a "pervert" by other parkgoers after he snapped photos of his own kids, the Daily Mail reported Tuesday. (snip) "What is the world coming to when anybody seen with a camera is assumed to be doing things that they should not?" Crutchley asked in an interview with the Daily Mail. "This parental paranoia is getting completely out of hand. I was so shocked."

Police fury as bosses tell them to 'celebrate' gipsies By Stephen Wright Last updated at 9:19 AM on 12th July 2008 Denise Milani: The Metropolitan Police director urges officers to observe 'Gipsy Roma Traveller History Month'Their arrival in the capital is said to have led to a huge rise in thieving and prompted the creation of a specialist police squad to tackle their sinister activities. Yet in a move which has caused disbelief amongst rank and file officers, Scotland Yard has asked staff to 'celebrate' the contribution of Roma gipsies to 'London's culture and diversity.' In a notice posted on...

UPDATE 2-EU raids Cargill, Bunge in food-price probe Thu Jul 10, 2008 10:58pm BST (Adds comments from Cargill, Bunge) BRUSSELS, July 10 (Reuters) - The European Commission raided agribusiness giants Cargill Inc [CARG.UL] and Bunge Ltd (BG.N: Quote, Profile, Research) on Thursday in a sweep of traders and distributors of cereals and other agricultural products for human consumption and animal feed in two EU countries. The raids come at a time when grain prices have soared to record highs amid strong demand, production problems and the use of grain to produce biofuels that have lifted food prices. "The Commission has...

A teacher has been suspended amid claims she punished two children who refused to worship Allah during a Religious Education lesson. Alison Phillips, head of RE at Cheshire's respected Alsager High School, allegedly disciplined the Year 7 duo claiming they were disrespectful for refusing to kneel down and pray. After giving the two boys detention the school was believed to have received several complaints from parents about the long-standing teacher. Today, a school spokesman said she was suspended over the allegations - but also for "ongoing inquiries centred around other practical issues". Joan Feenan, director of Cheshire County Council's children's...

Europe is on the brink of an economic slowdown. Its citizens are being choked by record inflation. Plans to reform its political institutions have hit their second major stumbling block in three years. Now is not exactly a great time for France to take up the rotating six-month presidency of the European Union, but it does give a good excuse for Nicolas Sarkozy to take a pop at the European Central Bank. The French president has made no secret of his contempt for the euro zone's central bank in the past, which he has publicly slammed for refusing to bring...

Toddlers who turn their noses up at spicy food from overseas could be branded racists by a Government-sponsored agency. The National Children's Bureau, which receives £12 million a year, mainly from Government funded organisations, has issued guidance to play leaders and nursery teachers advising them to be alert for racist incidents among youngsters in their care. This could include a child of as young as three who says "yuk" in response to being served unfamiliar foreign food. The guidance by the NCB is designed to draw attention to potentially-racist attitudes in youngsters from a young age. It alerts playgroup leaders...

An open standards row is brewing between the EC and a lobbying group for software multinationals over a proposed European framework on interoperability – a draft of which is due to be published on 15 July.The Interoperable Delivery of European e-government Services to Public Administrations, Businesses and Citizens (IDABC) arm of the European Commission presented an outline of version two of the European Interoperability Framework (EIF) at a meeting in Brussels last week.The main crux of the new framework according to the presentation, which can be viewed here (pdf) (http://ec.europa.eu/idabc/servlets/Doc?id=31224), is that European governments, firms and users should “be prepared...

The French presidency of the European Union will be an exercise in “crisis management”, according to Peer Steinbrück, the German finance minister, in particular with rocketing oil prices and the rejection of the Lisbon treaty by Irish voters. The undiplomatic assessment echoes analysts’ expectations that France’s presidency, which began last week, will be short on new projects and instead have to focus on salvaging Lisbon and seeking answers to the global energy shortage. “I think the French presidency will be very much influenced by the current challenges. As far as I know they understand themselves that they are sitting in...

Irate parents said a religious education teacher at the Alsager High School in England told students to wear Muslim headgear during a lesson on Tuesday. "But if Muslims were asked to go to church on Sunday and take Holy Communion, there would be war," the grandfather of one of the students said.

Mummy's little Lolita: The 11-year-old girl whose beauty treatments cost £300 a month to make her look like Barbie By Jenny Johnston Last updated at 5:31 PM on 05th July 2008 She wore her first set of false eyelashes at eight, and her beauty treatments cost £300 a month. A sick abuse of an 11-year-old? 'No', insists Sasha's mother, 'I just want her to be famous...' At 11, Sasha Bennington is too young to remember the days when Jordan was just a country and being branded 'fake' was something to be ashamed of. But maybe the youngster's biggest tragedy is...

An education authority is investigating claims that two school pupils were punished for refusing to kneel down and pray to Allah during a religious education lesson. Parents complained after the boys, Year 7 pupils at Alsager High School in Cheshire, were given detention for being "disrespectful" to the prophet, the Congleton Chronicle reported. Parent Sharon Luinen told the paper: "This isn't right, it's taking things too far. "I understand that they have to learn about other religions, I can live with that, but it is taking it a step too far to be punished because they wouldn't join in Muslim...

Blackouts that plunged 500,000 homes into darkness last month were compounded by European environmental restrictions over the use of coal and oil-fired power stations, The Times has learnt. The unexpected shutdown of two power stations on Tuesday, May 29, led to the worst disruption to the UK’s power network in more than 20 years, prompting new concerns over the stability of Britain’s ageing power grid. However, industry sources say that a key factor was the European Union’s Large Combustion Plant Directive (LCPD), which sets strict limits on the number of hours that some of Britain’s largest and most heavily polluting...

EU ministers grapple with global warming goal French Ecology Minister Jean-Louis Borloo, chairing the first top-level meeting under France's six-month presidency of the EU, was to ask his counterparts to identify two key areas of national concern to help spur the negotiation process. PARIS - EUROPEAN UNION (EU) environment ministers began an informal two-day meeting here on Thursday aimed at clearing some of the many obstacles besetting their goal of slashing carbon emissions by 2020. French Ecology Minister Jean-Louis Borloo, chairing the first top-level meeting under France's six-month presidency of the EU, was to ask his counterparts to identify two...

A Down's syndrome man and Special Olympics champion who has been working for free for years is now being charged a fee to wash councillors' dishes. Virgil Taylor has been helping to wash up, wipe tables and set up trolleys in a restaurant used by town hall staff for 17 years as part of subsidised adult care services. Mrs Taylor said: 'I save the Government a lot of money keeping him with me and I would not have it any other way. 'I am an honest person and the underhanded way we have been treated sickens me. 'Those at the...

LONDON (AFP) — Foreign Secretary David Miliband on Wednesday backed French President Nicolas Sarkozy's proposal that Europe should develop its own defence capabilities, saying it posed no threat to NATO. Miliband welcomed Sarkozy's pledge in a major speech last month that France, which was a founding member of NATO but left the integrated command in 1966 when president Charles de Gaulle rejected US dominance of the military alliance, will fully re-integrate the alliance. But he said developing European defence capacity was "not a threat to NATO". "NATO is and will remain the cornerstone of European defence," he said in a...

Patients will be able to escape NHS queues by demanding treatment anywhere in the European Union without the prior approval of a doctor, under proposals to guarantee health rights unveiled today in Brussels. The NHS would then be duty bound to refund the British cost of the procedure under the new rules for cross-border healthcare. Today’s proposed EU directive will give patients in all 27 member states the same rights to treatment on the NHS as British patients. It also guarantees that the full cost of treatment abroad will be refunded when an NHS professional has agreed that it...

Nicolas Sarkozy wants to reunite the European family. But yesterday, on his first day as its patriarch, he found himself presiding over a tribe squabbling about everything from defence to tax to climate change. The French President admitted that his six months at the head of the EU were going to be tougher He conceded that the community faced deadlock over the Lisbon treaty and that winning acceptance for his ideas on issues such as immigration and trade could be complicated. Plans to encourage Ireland to reverse its rejection of the treaty by urging the remaining 26 EU members to...

It turns out that the U.S., whose Supreme Court last month ruled that non-American prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay may challenge their detention, isn't the only country where judges are hampering the war on terror. Many people here are rubbing their eyes at the fact that Britain is letting out of jail some of al Qaeda's most dangerous members. In June, a British court released the notorious Islamist preacher Abu Qatada, who had spent the previous three years in jail pending deportation to Jordan to stand trial on terrorism charges. Now there are media reports that the U.K. government is...

Parents banned from ferrying children to sports matches By Christopher Hope, Home Affairs Editor Last updated: 11:40 PM BST 27/06/2008Hundreds of thousands of parents will be banned from ferrying children to sports matches next year unless they have had criminal records checks, under new rules. The clampdown is part of an escalation in child protection policies which will see 11 million adults vetted before they come into contact with children or vulnerable adults. Under new regulations, parents who are asked by the organisers of a children's sports team to take other children to sports fixtures like football or cricket matches...

Russia, EU launch talks on new strategic relations09:45' 28/06/2008 (GMT+7) European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Prime Minister Janez Jansa of Slovenia and European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana (R-L) meet the media after the two-day Russia-EU summit in Khanty-Mansiysk, central Russia, June 27, 2008. Russia and the EU announced here Friday that they will open talks on new strategic relations in coming days.(Xinhua Photo) The Russia-EU summit concluded Friday in Russia's West Siberian city of Khanty-Mansiysk, with the issuing of a joint statement saying that Russia and the European Union (EU) will hold the...

As a dutiful American columnist, I should probably be pondering the half-baked presumption behind Barack Obama's bizarre "presidential" seal. Or shaking my head at John McCain's hair-trigger panic over an aide's answer to a question about terrorism's political impact. Or clucking over the irresponsibly childish $300 billion goodie bag -- I mean, mortgage bailout bill -- that just passed in the U.S. Senate. But I can't stop thinking about Europe. No surprise there. I just returned from a swift-moving, fact-finding journey through six European countries. And that tally doesn't even include two side-trips: one to Luxemburg just to buy cheaper...

BELGIUM - It has been hailed as the most important European Union legal proposal in the last five years: a package of laws aimed at fighting global warming by reducing carbon-dioxide (CO2) emissions from everything from power stations to cars. When France takes over the European Union's rotating six-month presidency on July 1, one of its key challenges will be to get all 27 member states to approve the European Commission's proposals. Officials say that a political deal must be done by the end of the year if the EU is to maintain the moral high ground in talks on...

<p>The following are internal Stratfor documents produced to provide high-level guidance to our analysts. These documents are not forecasts, but rather a series of guidelines for understanding and evaluating events, as well as suggestions on areas for focus.</p> <p>1. The situation in Iraq: Let's spend next week focusing on something that is not happening: the war in Iraq. The bombing in a Baghdad market really drove home how few there are. So did indications that Iraq is going to open the oil fields to investment. We need to review the status of the war carefully. Our perception has been that the war is winding down and the general outlines of the resolution are in place. Time to do a net assessment re-evaluating our position.</p>

EU sanctions illegal, says Iran Iran is already under UN sanctions for its nuclear activities Iran has condemned as illegal new EU sanctions against Tehran over its uranium enrichment programme. A foreign ministry spokesman said the sanctions would make Iran more determined to obtain the technology. On Monday, the EU imposed an asset freeze on Iran's largest bank and added more names to a list of Iranians who are banned from travelling to the EU. The US and allies accuse Iran of developing nuclear weapons. Iran says its programme is for peaceful purposes. It is defying a demand from...

<p>College girls who turned the tables on builders by wolf-whistling at them have been warned their behaviour is ‘harassment’.</p> <p>The students singled out contractors working on an extension to West Kent College for amorous comments and cheeky remarks.</p> <p>But the joke has become so persistent that the pupils have been threatened with disciplinary action.</p>

Tied to HAMAS, PLO, Al-Qaeda -- Well, no wonder actress Gwyneth Paltrow left Hollywood. It wasn't just that she hates America and Americans--as she told Spanish media. It's that she preferred Pali-wood, the pro-Palestinian cesspool known as England. And Thursday, she put her money where her mouth is--er, her mouth where the terrorist money is--by appearing and singing karaoke at a fundraiser for the Palestinian charity, the Hoping Foundation, a front-group for HAMAS and other Islamic terrorist groups founded by Hugh Grant's Muslim girlfriend Jemimah Khan and some anti-Israel left-wing Jews. Paltrow's karaoke song choice, "Killing Me Softly," is ironic,...

Raids hit EU 'people-smugglers' Police say Iraqi Kurds were smuggled to Europe via Turkey A pan-Europe police operation has led to the arrest of 75 people suspected of trafficking Iraqi Kurds into the EU.The suspects, believed to belong to a network of Iraqi nationals, were detained in nine European countries. European police agency Europol said it was one of the largest co-ordinated operations against people smuggling. The migrants may have paid up to $18,500 (12,000 euros; £9,400) each to be taken from Iraq to countries within the European Union. The operation - codenamed "Operation Baghdad" as it targeted a...

Last week's summit in Brussels failed to resolve the EU crisis caused by the Irish "no" to the Lisbon Treaty. But Europe's politicians are determined to avoid asking the people their opinion. And they are right to do so. REUTERS Would you buy a used treaty from these people? This must be the biggest collection of scoundrels in the world. There are 27 of them. No, more: It's not just the heads of state and government who are here, but also the foreign ministers. Sitting there at their enormous table, they seem to be chatting amiably, but it's far less...

The European Union has imposed new sanctions on Iran in an effort to halt the country's nuclear program. The European assets of a major Iranian bank are to be frozen and more restrictions may be on their way.Erik Seemann The EU froze the assets of Iran's biggest bank on Monday.The European Union stepped up its campaign against Iran's nuclear program on Monday, freezing the European assets of a major Iranian bank. At a meeting of European foreign ministers in Luxembourg, a new sanctions package was announced that included measures against Iran's biggest financial institution, Bank Melli. Bank Melli has been...

The European Union has agreed new financial sanctions aimed at pressuring Iran to halt uranium enrichment. The new measures freeze all assets of the Bank Melli, Iran's biggest bank, within the EU. Last week the EU's foreign policy chief Javier Solana offered new incentives to Tehran - but has not received a reply. Iran insists its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful, but is defying a demand from the UN that it stop the enrichment of uranium. The UN Security Council approved a third round of sanctions against Iran over the issue in March 2008. Blacklist Western officials have accused Bank...

In all the debate about whether or not the U.S. should talk to Iran about halting its nuclear program, something critical was overlooked: Iran’s very refusal to discuss the matter. Today, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said, “Suspension of enrichment has no logical reason behind it. We believe that no proposals should be made that lead to the Iranian nation being denied its rights.” In other words, “Don’t even talk to us about stopping enrichment.”

Thousands of primary pupils were prevented from making Father's Day cards at school for fear of embarrassing classmates who live with single mothers and lesbians. The politically correct policy was quietly adopted at schools "in the interests of sensitivity" over the growing number of lone-parent and same-sex households.

"As soon as a writer expresses an opinion against Islamism, immediately someone on the left leaps to his feet and claims that because the majority of Muslims are dark-skinned, he who criticises it is racist," he said in an interview in Corriere della Sera. "This is logically absurd and morally unacceptable. Martin is not a racist. And I myself despise Islamism, because it wants to create a society that I detest, based on religious belief, on a text, on lack of freedom for women, intolerance towards homosexuality and so on - we know it well."

Nicolas Sarkozy has been accused of putting the brakes on European Union expansion in a desperate attempt to salvage the Lisbon Treaty. The Conservatives said the French president was "blackmailing" the rest of the EU by claiming that moves to bring more nations into the union - starting with Croatia - would have to be put on hold in the wake of this month’s “No” vote on the Treaty in the Irish referendum. The Treaty, which seeks to abolish dozens of national vetoes, hand new powers to Brussels and create the post of EU president, cannot come into operation until...

Britain has become the 19th European Union country to ratify the Lisbon Treaty without a referendum, after the EU Amendment Bill completed its passage through Parliament. A last-ditch Conservative attempt to delay ratification until the autumn was voted down in the House of Lords by a margin of 93, and peers later gave the Bill its third reading without a vote. Eurosceptic members of the European Parliament display posters calling on the EU to respect the outcome of Ireland's recent vote Royal Assent is expected to follow within 24 hours. Parliamentary ratification came on the eve of an EU summit...

It is time to accept that the Lisbon treaty is dead. The European Union can get along well enough without it VOTERS have once again shot an arrow into the heart of a European Union treaty. This time it was the Irish, who voted no to the Lisbon treaty on June 12th by 53-47%, on a high turnout. They follow the French and Dutch, who rejected Lisbon's predecessor, the EU constitution, in 2005. In 2001 the Irish also turned down the Nice treaty, but the Danes started this game when they voted against the Maastricht treaty in 1992. Europe's political...

Czech threat looms for EU treaty The Czech PM said he would not bet much on a Czech 'Yes' EU leaders have admitted that the Czech Republic may not be able to ratify the Lisbon Treaty, which has already been rejected by the Irish. The declaration from their summit in Brussels notes that the Czech process is on hold due to legal difficulties. But they said ratification would continue elsewhere, and ruled out renegotiation of the treaty. But British PM Gordon Brown said the UK could not definitively ratify it until a court ruled on a legal challenge. It...

PARIS, June 18 -- The European Parliament approved new rules Wednesday designed to standardize the dramatic differences in member countries' treatment of illegal immigrants, whose presence is one of the most heated political issues in Europe today. The measure, which would allow countries to jail illegal immigrants for as long as 18 months pending deportation, was decried by human rights organizations as promoting excessive detention. Supporters defended it as providing greater protections for the foreigners in countries that now permit indefinite detentions and grant detainees few legal rights. Rapidly changing demographics in Europe -- as Muslims arrive from the Middle...