Free Republic

Plans to put ten million electric vehicles on the road within ten years and rip gas central heating from every home are unveiled today. Energy regulator Ofgem has outlined how the nation will have to change the way it travels and heats homes to meet the Government’s target of net zero carbon emissions by 2050. The radical scheme to ‘greenwire’ Britain will be built around plans for a four-fold increase in electricity from wind farms around the coast. But the proposals will largely be paid for by families and businesses, adding billions of pounds to bills over the next 30...

Boris Johnson today slammed 'mumbo-jumbo' fears about US food standards and NHS interference - as he insisted Britain will be the superhero of free trade. The PM shrugged off 'hysteria' over issues like chlorinated chicken, joking that he thought Americans looked 'pretty well nourished'. He said Britain's approach would be based on 'science', although he stressed that other countries will have to accept that the UK will not slash standards or compromise animal welfare. The comments came as Mr Johnson delivered a keynote speech pledging to make the country a beacon for free trade now it has left the EU.

A man who lives like a Victorian and claims to be one of England's most eligible bachelors has finally met the woman of his dreams who shares his passion for the 1800s. Michael Koropisz, 24, a classical portrait painter from Stockport, Greater Manchester, refuses to watch television and writes with a quill and ink. The Victorian enthusiast insists on living in the past by dressing strictly in clothes from the 19th century and filling his house with antiques. Despite getting odd glances from strangers, Michael claims that his unique lifestyle leaves him inundated with offers from the opposite sex -...

The FBI and prosecutors with the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York contacted Prince Andrew's lawyer to interview the prince about Jeffrey Epstein, but they have provided "zero" cooperation, according to US Attorney Geoffrey Berman. In November, Britain's Prince Andrew said he was "willing to help any appropriate law enforcement agency with their investigations, if required" after he appeared on the BBC and was questioned about his relationship to Epstein and allegations he had sexual encounters with an underaged girl. "It's fair for people to know whether Prince Andrew has followed through with that public commitment,"...

Prince Andrew was so close to Jeffrey Epstein’s accused madam Ghislaine Maxwell he would secretly let her into Buckingham Palace up to four times a day, his former police protection officer claims. Former London cop Paul Page told the Sunday Mirror that even before the Epstein scandal blew up from his child-sex conviction, Maxwell’s visits to the palace were kept hush-hush. “We’ve got a guest coming for Andrew but the name is not to be entered in the book,” Page claims he was told by the Palace’s property managers the first time he saw Maxwell visit in 2001. “Half an...

Are they, really? You bet. In workplaces? Not just any workplace, but arguably one of the world’s most powerful offices — although its power is seen to be rapidly diminishing. Which office is this? The political team at No 10, Downing Street; the office of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Are you calling Boris a weirdo and a misfit? There are many who will agree with that characterisation. But I was referring instead to an unconventional ‘recruitment’ ad that is inviting “weirdos and misfits with odd skills” to apply to work at the heart of the British government. Tell me...

Downing Street received a delivery of English sparkling wine today as the Queen rubber-stamped Boris Johnson's Brexit Bill into law. Parliament finally gave its formal backing to the European Union Withdrawal Agreement Bill last night. The draft legislation, which is needed to ensure the UK's departure from the bloc is an orderly one, was then sent to the Queen to be given Royal Assent. Royal Assent from the monarch is the last stage a bill must pass in order to make it onto the statute book. Now that it has been given, the so-called WAB is officially an Act of...

LONDON (AP) — Terry Jones, a member of the Monty Python comedy troupe, has died at 77. He had been suffering from dementia. Jones's agent says he died Tuesday evening. In a statement, his family said he died “after a long, extremely brave but always good humored battle with a rare form of dementia, FTD.” With Eric Idle, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Graham Chapman and Terry Gilliam, Jones formed Monty Python's Flying Circus, whose anarchic humor helped revolutionize British comedy. Jones appeared in the troupe's TV series and films including “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” and “The Life of...

The UK’s Mailonline reported Friday that according to a “damning” new report, “sex attacks on young girls by Asian grooming gangs were ignored by police fear of stoking racial tensions, a damning report has ruled.” “Asian” is British media code for “Muslim.” The Mail added that “a chief inspector from Rotherham was found to have admitted South Yorkshire Police force turned a blind eye to the harrowing cases of abuse…The unnamed senior police officer said: ‘With it being Asians, we can't afford for this to come out.’” The father of one of the victims recounted: “She’d been missing for...

Over the last one hundred years, the British Royal Family has generously provided the world with a parade of scandals more colorful and louder than the socks they wear with their kilts. But the Meghan and Harry rupture is fundamentally different from any previous crisis to befall the British monarchy. Prior to now, royal scandals have been cut from the same petticoats as any other public ignominies — i.e., the chin-wagging that follows uncovering some form of immoral conduct. All the throngs of poorly hidden mistresses, caddish boyfriends, toe-sucking on yachts, assignations in the deer park while the horses wait...

How are the mighty fallen! This time a year ago, Prince Harry had the world at his feet. He was a handsome prince with a beautiful wife and a healthy male heir on the way, plenty of money, a free, five-bedroomed ‘cottage’ in a piece of England’s finest real estate, a dashing war record from two tours in Afghanistan, bags of honorary titles — including Captain General of the Royal Marines — all the cachet of being a senior player in the world’s grandest Royal Family but little of the responsibility (his big brother William is heir to the throne,...

Students can now get paid to snitch on their peers at the University of Sheffield. The students will earn £9.34/hour to be “race equality champions,” and their training for the work will include teaching them how to “lead healthy conversations” on racism, microaggressions, and how to deal with those peers who commit infractions. Hours range from two to nine hours per week, like any part-time work-study job. But Sheffield University’s foray into “snitch culture” sounds alarm bells. Following a report from the Equality and Human Rights Commission that cautioned about the “common occurrence” of racism for some students on campus,...

Brexit may soon cost the UK more than its combined total of payments to the European Union budget over the past 47 years, Bloomberg Economics found. Bloomberg said the cost of the UK's vote to leave the EU had already reached £130 billion. A further £70 billion is likely to be added by the end of 2020, the economist Dan Hanson found. Business confidence and investment in the UK has dipped significantly since the 2016 vote. Brexit is likely to have cost the UK more than £200 billion in lost economic growth by the end of this year —...

How the mighty have fallen... in this video, you can see a cringeworthy Prince Harry trying to pitch Meghan Markle's voiceover skills to Disney CEO. See it on YouTube. Twitter is deleting the video like mad, so this one may eventually be taken down too. Here's another where Meghan sees him talking with some important people, she interrupts, pushes him aside and jumps in front of them all silencing Harry.

Uncovered outside the Roman fortress in Caerleon by a team of staff and students from the School of History, Archaeology and Religion, the port is only the second known from Roman Britain and sheds new light on Wales' role in Roman Britain. The well-preserved remains of the port are located on the banks of the River Usk just north of the city of Newport and include the main quay wall, as well as the landing stages and wharves where ships would have docked and unloaded their cargoes. The team made the find during their on-going excavations of the 'Lost City...

For more than 2000 years a suburb of monumental Roman buildings lay undiscovered beneath a modern South Wales town, but now archaeologists from Cardiff University hope to reveal the secrets of this fascinating ancient site. In spring 2010, staff and students from the School of History, Archaeology and Religion located a complex of buildings outside the Roman fortress at Caerleon. The 'Lost City of the Legion' -- as it has been called -- was completely unknown and is a major addition to our knowledge of Roman Britain. Geophysical surveys taken by the Cardiff team at the time of the discovery...

Archaeologists have discovered several large buildings at the fortress of Caerleon in south Wales, one of Britain's best known Roman sites. The major discovery was made by chance by students learning to use geophysical equipment. Cardiff University's Peter Guest said the find was "totally unexpected"... Caerleon (Isca), which dates from AD 75, is one of three permanent legionary fortresses in the UK, and was used for 200 years. The others at Chester and York - are mostly buried and difficult to excavate... The students were using the geophysical equipment in fields outside the Roman fortress - an area that was...

The Roman control over Britain stretched even further than first thought, the discovery of a new villa suggests. Archaeologists have discovered a 4th Century villa near Aberystwyth, the first time they have found evidence of Roman occupation of North and mid Wales. Findings indicate Abermagwr had all the trappings of villas found further south, including a slate roof and glazed windows. The villa is likely to have belonged to a wealthy landowner, with pottery and coin finds on the site indicating occupation in the late 3rd and early 4th Centuries AD. It was roofed with local slates, which were cut...

Archaeologists from Cardiff University today began excavating part of the remains of the 2,000 year old Roman Fortress in Caerleon, Newport. Led by Dr Peter Guest, of the School of History and Archaeology, the team of 50 archaeologists from Cardiff and University College London will excavate the remains of a monumental courtyard building in the south-western corner of the fortress. The building's existence was discovered during geophysical surveys undertaken by staff and students from the University and was investigated during trial excavations in 2007. This year's excavation will open a large trench over the building, which is believed to be...

Iranian media has reported that British Ambassador to Iran Robert Macaire was detained and interrogated by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps. Macaire was released after a short time...