Free Republic

Normally, I get pessimistic about the future when I think about wasteful spending programs that will drive almost all developed nations into bankruptcy. And America is on that list, by the way, because of our poorly designed entitlement programs. But sometimes my despair is the result of idiotic political correctness and bone-headed bureaucracy. And for some reason, as shown by these examples, the United Kingdom seems to have a disproportionate share of morons who want to impose bad policy on their fellow citizens. A job-placement center got in trouble for discriminating against incompetent people by seeking “reliable” and “hard-working” candidates.A...

Mike Hastings, an Australian forklift driver often called the “rightful heir” to the British throne, died June 30 in Jerilderie, Australia.

"Seven Men Arrested Under Terror Act The arrests followed a routine stop of a vehicle by police on the M1 motorway in South Yorkshire on June 30." SNIPPET: ""Firearms, offensive weapons and other material were later found hidden inside, prompting police to take action to trace and arrest the driver, passenger and others suspected of being involved," he said. Police said three men aged 23, 26 and 27 from Sparkhill, Birmingham, were arrested on Tuesday morning. Three more suspects, a 22-year-old from Alum Rock, Birmingham, a 24-year-old from the Moseley area of the city, and a 22-year-old from Smethwick, West...

The defence secretary, Philip Hammond, says five battalions will disappear and 17 units will be axed in the biggest overhaul of the British army for decades.

White Muslim convert Richard Dart and a former police community support officer were among six people arrested for allegedly plotting a terror attack in Britain.Richard Dart, who was radicalised by the cleric Anjem Choudary, was held following police raids in east and west London. A former PCSO and two of his brothers, who were living just over a mile from the Olympic site in Stratford, were also among those detained during the police and MI5 operation to prevent a suspected terror assault. One of the brothers was Tasered by officers. Counter-terrorism police had first searched their home last November. The...

The tyranny of banking deposit insurance is leading young people to hate 'the market'... Why aren't young people protesting against bailouts? Younger adults are usually pretty quick to protest injustices, but they're strangely quiet on financial rescues. Few of them seem able to join the dots and see that bailouts are clobbering them hardest. #1. The British economy is currently in a state of permanent government bailout. After spending all the money it raises in taxes our government prints £15 of new money per working person, per day, which it injects into the economy as public sector wages. The amount...

Islam, rather than a religion, is predominantly a totalitarian ideology striving for world dominance. I believe that Islam and freedom are incompatible. Some people do not want to hear this message. That is why they threaten to murder everyone who states this truth. I am not the only one who has been marked for death. The British author Salman Rushdie, the Scandinavian cartoonists Kurt Westergaard and Lars Vilks have all been victims of assassination attempts. However, if you really love freedom, you have to speak the truth. If not, we will fall victim to Islam, like earlier the people in...

Counter-terrorism police swooped on a coach today after a man was reportedly seen pouring liquid into a bag which was smoking.

Three out of 10 specialist units will stop performing heart surgery on children following an NHS review which decided resources were spread too thinly. The Royal Brompton in Chelsea, west London, Leeds General Infirmary and Glenfield Hospital in Leicester will not stop providing surgery immediately as plans to implement the new streamlined service are still being developed. Once they stop providing surgery, probably after 2013, the units will still see patients for diagnosis, monitoring and non-surgical treatment. The consultation process by the Joint Committee of Primary Care Trusts (JCPCT) of England

Addressing the European Parliament yesterday (3 July) in Strasbourg, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso slammed British euroskeptics for their divisive behavior and taking pleasure in the eurozone's troubles. "Let me tell you that it is puzzling that you seem to delight in the difficulties of the euro area," Barroso told the British Tories, adding that this was in stark contrast with the position taken by Prime Minister David Cameron. Barroso was taking aim especially at Conservative MEP Martin Callanan, who has repeatedly criticized bank bailouts as wasting taxpayers' money and talked in favor of eurozone exits for some countries....

I’m not sure whether this is a post about America’s dismal future if Obamacare is allowed to take root or whether this is a post about bureaucrats ripping off taxpayers. But I do know that it shows that the insiders take care of themselves quite nicely when the government seizes more control of a nation’s healthcare sector.Here’s a report from the UK-based Telegraph about how bureaucrats at a Scottish branch of the National Health Service are bilking taxpayers. National Procurement, a branch of the NHS National Services Division, arranged for staff who are deemed to be “regular users” of cars...

The hospitals that perform child heart surgery are due to learn which will have to stop performing operations. There are 10 units in England, but an official consultation has proposed up to four should cease doing surgery. The NHS review was carried out amid fears expertise was spread too thinly, and has already concluded surgery should be concentrated on fewer sites. Centres in Leicester, Leeds, Newcastle, Southampton, Bristol and London are under threat.

A young patient who died of dehydration at a leading teaching hospital phoned police from his bed because he was so thirsty, an inquest heard yesterday. Officers arrived at Kane Gorny's bedside, but were told by nurses that he was in a confused state and were sent away. The keen footballer and runner, 22, died of dehydration a few hours later. A coroner had such grave concerns about the case that she referred it to police. Yesterday an inquest was told how Mr Gorny died after blunders and neglect by 'lazy and careless' medical staff at St George's Hospital in...

Barclays Plc Chief Executive Bob Diamond quit on Tuesday under fire from politicians and regulators, the highest-profile casualty of an interest rate-rigging scandal spanning more than a dozen big banks across the world. "The external pressure placed on Barclays has reached a level that risks damaging the franchise - I cannot let that happen," said Diamond, 61. The terms of his severance were not announced.

Thousands of dementia sufferers are being abandoned by the NHS, with shocking variations in the time it takes to get a diagnosis and support. Waiting periods for vital memory services average at least three months--but they can vary from a few weeks to more than a year, reveals a damning report by a group of MPs. And some patients are not informed for at least five years that they have the disease, meaning treatments that are available are not as effective. Early diagnosis is key to staving off the ravages of the killer brain disease--yet almost 60 percent with dementia...

Call it damning with pink praise . . . On today's Morning Joe, BBC's Katty Kay, anchor of the network's American edition, said that Europeans favor the re-election of President Obama because he is more supportive of "European social-democratic values." You know, those wonderful welfare-state policies that have worked their magic so well that Europe now enjoys . . . an 11.1% unemployment rate. View the video here.

Outfoxed by Club Med Chancellor Merkel suffered a bruising defeat at last week's Brussels summit after leaders of Italy, Spain and France ganged up on her. Europe's power relations have shifted as a result. It looks like Germany will no longer be calling the shots in the EU. It was Monti, of all people, "Super Mario," as he's called in Berlin. The affable economics professor from Lombardy, the man the German Chancellery felt was the best thing that could have happened to Italy. The man who could "save Europe," at least according to Time magazine. It was Monti, of all...

The European Central Bank is widely expected to make an interest rate cut this week to try to invigorate the eurozone’s ailing economy after unemployment in the region climbed to a record high and a key survey of manufacturing showed the sector to be at its weakest in three years.

Under increasing domestic pressure as the eurozone considers major integrative steps, Prime Minister David Cameron has said the UK may have a referendum on the EU, but his couched statement does not go far enough for increasingly restive Conservative euroskeptics. "The two words “Europe” and “referendum” can go together, particularly if we really are proposing a change in how our country is governed," Cameron wrote in the Sunday Telegraph. But he cautioned against an in/out referendum. "Leaving would not be in our country’s best interests", while a British vote to stay in the union would mean that subsequent attempts to...

WASHINGTON -- GlaxoSmithKline LLC will pay $3 billion and plead guilty to promoting two popular drugs for unapproved uses and to failing to disclose important safety information on a third in the largest health care fraud settlement in U.S. history, the Justice Department said Monday. Accompanying the criminal case was a civil settlement in which the government said the company's improper marketing included providing doctors with expensive resort vacations, European hunting trips, high-paid speaking tours and even tickets to a Madonna concert. The $3 billion combined criminal-civil fine will be the largest penalty ever paid by a drug company, Deputy...