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I am going to be taking a vacation with a few friends to London and Bristol, England, before the election and I wanted to get some Freeper ideas on where to eat and what to see. I was intially very worried about travelling abroad before the election, but then I realized- that's what the terrorists want! So forget them- I am going to drop some tourist dollars on our faithful British friends! I have never been out of this country so I am a little bit freaked, so I thought I'd ask for some input from other well traveled and/or...

I have created a public register of "bump lists" here on Free Republic. I define a bump list as a name listed in the "To" field used to index articles. Free Republic Bump List Register

LONDON – When is a spanking more than a spanking? When does parental discipline cross the line from an occasional spank to keep an unruly child in order to a beating? The great parenting debate is now a great federal government debate here. As a new children's bill makes its way through Parliament, ministers and officials are debating whether all forms of corporal punishment - even by parents - should be banned. The government has taken state interference in personal behavior to a new level; it now seems to distrust parents so much that it thinks they can't distinguish between...

Britain shamed by NHS death rates Waiting lists and shortage of doctors blamed for grim mortality figures Jo Revill, health editorSunday September 7, 2003The Observer Patients who have major surgery in Britain are four times more likely to die than those in America, according to a major new study. The comparison of care, which reveals a sevenfold difference in mortality rates in one set of patients, concludes that hospital waiting lists, a shortage of specialists and competition for intensive care beds are to blame. Fresh evidence of a stark contrast between the fate of patients on either side of the...

The Reuters news group and one of its US subsidiaries is being sued for racial discrimination over allegations that a "white, public school attitude" tolerated and encouraged a racist environment in which black employees were abused and persecuted. The class action announced yesterday alleges that black employees at Radianz ­ a US-based internet services subsidiary of Reuters ­ were forced to work in "an outrageous, patently offensive environment". One black employee was repeatedly referred to as "my nigger" by a white supervisor and was sent racially offensive emails, the action alleges. "It's astounding," said Douglas Wigdor, one of the lawyers...

The BBC says it has a tape recording of David Kelly voicing serious concerns over the role of Downing Street in the disputed Iraq dossier. The corporation is planning to submit the tape as evidence during the inquiry into the death of the weapons expert. Susan Watts, the science editor of Newsnight, recorded her conversations with Dr Kelly, parts of which were later broadcast anonymously as a "source", using the voice of an actor. The report, which was broadcast on 2 June, suggested Downing Street had been "desperate" to find information to justify its stance on a war against Iraq....

Britain to Allow Transsexuals to Marry By Michael Holden LONDON (Reuters) - Britain unveiled plans for a new law on Friday which would allow transsexuals to marry under their adopted sex, ending a long dispute over their legal status. The proposals were given a cautious welcome by campaigners who have been fighting on behalf of Britain's 5,000 transsexuals for over 30 years for a change in the law. However some church groups said they would undermine conventional relationships and family life. "The draft bill will ensure that transsexual people can take up all their fundamental rights including the right to...

Compulsory sex education for five-year-olds will be demanded today by government advisers on teenage pregnancy, as an essential step towards halving the under-18 concep tion rate by 2010. The teaching of sex and relationships in primary schools is not progressing fast enough to prepare children for the earlier onset of puberty, the Independent Advisory Group on Teenage Pregnancy will warn ministers in its annual report. The advisers have been encouraged by a 10% reduction in the teenage conception rate since 1998, and they attribute part of this improvement to more confident teaching of personal, social and health education (PSHE) in...

<p>Four years ago, a British farmer shot and killed a 16-year-old burglar on his property and wounded an older accomplice.</p> <p>The wounded intruder, a career criminal with 34 convictions, served 18 months for the burglary.</p> <p>The Norfolk farmer, a recluse named Tony Martin, was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison.</p>

TV watchdog checks claims of bias on Murdoch channel The Murdoch-owned Fox News Channel, whose determinedly patriotic stance during the Iraq conflict brought it critical notoriety but commercial success, is under investigation by television regulators in Britain for alleged bias. The independent television commission is investigating nine complaints by viewers of the channel, broadcast on Sky Digital satellite, also controlled by Rupert Murdoch. If the network is found to have breached the ITC's "due impartiality" rules, it could be forced out. In 1999 the ITC revoked the licence of Med TV, a channel aimed at the Kurdish diaspora, for failing...

8.30amIndependent introduces web chargesCiar ByrneThursday April 24, 2003The Guardian The Independent: hoping to bring its website into the black  The Independent is following in the footsteps of the Times and the Financial Times by charging users to access parts of its website.Selected areas of Independent.co.uk, including opinion pieces, articles by celebrated Middle East correspondent Robert Fisk, the news and sport archive and the cryptic crosswords, will carry a charge from this week.While much of the site's content will remain free, the Independent is hoping to bring the website into the black by erecting barriers in these four areas as part...

HOME OF THE FREE: ARNETT JOINS MIRRORTHE reporter sacked by American TV for telling the truth about the war is joining the Daily Mirror.Veteran newsman Peter Arnett was axed by NBC yesterday accused of being a Saddam stooge. He told state-run Iraqi TV the conflict was not going to plan because of fierce resistance and said his Baghdad reports "help those who oppose war".He joins the Mirror on the day it was revealed that 8,700 bombs have rained down on Iraq in 12 days, including 3,000 missiles over the weekend.After his sacking, Pulitzer Prize winner Arnett said: "I report...

Poll is currently at http://www.sky.com/skynews/home/.I believe the poll will be moved to this page after being dumped from the front page, but I'm not 100% certain.Anyway... Day ten of war: is your support for campaign: IncreasingDecreasingUnchanged I am anti-war

  Coalition troops in Iraq BRITONS BACKING WAR A large majority of Britons believe that war in Iraq should be seen through to a successful conclusion, according to a poll. Despite 23 British deaths and fears the conflict will drag on for months, just 11% of those questioned believe UK troops should be withdrawn. The survey by ICM Research for the News of the World found 84% in favour of continuing war until its objectives had been achieved.Pre-war polls regularly found large majorities opposed to military action.But now it has begun, surveys have shown Britons rallying behind troops.The poll suggests Tony Blair...

THE BBC was last night sensationally condemned for “one-sided” war coverage — by its own front line defence correspondent. Paul Adams attacks the Beeb for misreporting the Allied advance in a blistering memo leaked to The Sun. And he warned the BBC’s credibility is at risk for suggesting British troops are paying a “high price for small victories”. On Monday, he wrote from US Central Command in Qatar: “I was gobsmacked to hear, in a set of headlines today, that the coalition was suffering ‘significant casualties’. “This is simply NOT TRUE. Nor is it true to say — as the...

Dramatic pictures have been coming out of Iraq since the bombing campaign began. The Sun carries perhaps the most dramatic yet - capturing the moment the "shock and awe" campaign began.The anti-war Mirror puts it another way. It describes last night's attack, which was beamed across the world as it happened, as "America's night of shame".The cruise missile blitz is captured in the two detailed pictures by the Daily Mail, which shows smoke pouring out of one large building.The Daily Express opts to carry a picture of Iraqi troops surrendering in southern Iraq, although the paper's picture desk has ignored...

The Sun reports on what it calls the "Battle For Basra". It says 10,000 British troops stormed into action to seize the key city in southern Iraq.The Mirror carries a full-page picture of smoke rising from a missile strike in Baghdad with the headline "Mass Destruction".The Star also leads with a picture of a burning Baghdad and says allies have blitzed Saddam's palaces and troops have warned: "You ain't seen nothing yet".The Express says 10,000 British troops have spearheaded a full-blown invasion of Iraq and says they have come under fire from "the missiles Saddam the liar said he never...

At least I knew where I stood during the Falklands war By Anne Robinson(Filed: 01/03/2003) My first acquaintance with war - and a very distant one at that - was as a young and very green assistant editor at the start of the Falklands conflict. The night the news came that British troops had landed and recaptured South Georgia, I was in charge of the Daily Mirror.A month later, when the Sheffield went down, I was again editing the paper. In the weeks between, more than 400 young men had died. That poor mothers' sons, on whoever's side, were losing...

Lights, camera, action. "Tonight, ladies and gentleman, we are going to put America on trial" (polite applause). The charge: "America's first-strike foreign policy is thinly disguised imperialism, which threatens to fuel another arms race, spawn a new generation of terrorists and destroy international relations (more applause)." No one bothers to explain the basis upon which these charges have actually been laid. But we are, after all, locked in a BBC studio (the one where they make The Weakest Link), and the majority of those invited to participate in the discussion have little interest in the quality of the debate, or...

The Sun storms Paris Zut alors! ... The Sun's Paris editionClick pic to enlarge THE Sun is handing out a special edition of the paper on the streets of Paris today. In it we ask the French people if they are ashamed of their spineless President, Jacques 'Le Worm' Chirac: **Translation below** THE SUN, journal lu quotidiennement par dix millions de personnes, présente ses salutations aux parisiens. Nous pensons qu’en menaçant constamment de recourir à son droit de veto pour empêcher toute action militaire destinée à faire appliquer la volonté des Nations Unies en Irak, votre président, Jacques Chirac, est...