Free Republic

As Britain shivers under a blanket of snow and ice, it has emerged that offshore windfarms have been idling to prevent icing up – and drawing electricity off the national grid to do so. Critics have pointed out the “folly” of having windfarms idle in a cold snap, but industry experts insist that all forms of power generation involve some electrical input. The issue has been raised by Brian Christley, a resident of Abergele, Wales, who wrote to the Daily Telegraph to say: “Over the weekend just gone, the coldest of the year so far, all 100-plus off-shore wind turbines...

The United Kingdom’s 2010 Strategic Defense and Security Review—a budget drill, really—imposed devastating cuts to what had been one of the world’s best militaries. The British Army, Royal Air Force and Royal Navy each had to give up weapons and manpower in the interest of saving money. But arguably the most damaging reductions fell on the navy, which had to surrender both of its remaining Invincible-class light aircraft carriers years earlier than previously planned. And the Harrier jump jets that flew from the flattops went, too—leaving the navy without carrier-launched fighters for the first time since a plane took off...

William and George both appear in the top twenty of most popular boys names in the UK in 2014 (PA) European-wide Christian names were a product of ChristendomsIt seems to be a solid British tradition now: the annual debate about whether Mohammed is now the most popular boy’s name in Britain, or whether it’s Oliver.The issue comes down to whether one counts all spelling variations as one name, in which case Mohammed/Mohammad/Muhammed etc would be number one; or, as others argue, Oliver and Ollie would therefore be added together to take first place.The difference, however, is that Mohammed/Mohammad are variations...

UK orders four more F-35B stealth jets as partners work to reduce the cost of the controversial fighter-bomber British defence and engineering companies including BAE Systems and Rolls-Royce have been given a boost after the Ministry of Defence struck a deal to order the first production batch of F-35 fighter-bombers. Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said the MoD had reached an agreement in principle to buy four F-35 Lightning II stealth aircraft. About 15pc of each aircraft is manufactured in Britain and BAE is the only tier one partner in the F-35 programme, which is headed by Lockheed Martin and is...

The British Navy has seen significant changes over the past 200 years, since Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson sailed HMS Victory to glory in the Battle of Trafalgar. And to celebrate 2014 being the 209th anniversary of Trafalgar Day - when Admiral Nelson hoisted the flag in conquest - BAE Systems has revealed just how far naval engineering has evolved. Using laser imaging techniques, experts have been able to get under the skin of HMS Victory - the oldest commissioned warship in the world - allowing them to draw direct comparisons between the vessel, and Type 45 Destroyer HMS Defender. The...

After some hand-wringing over British citizens who have chosen to fight with ISIS, Prime Minister David Cameron said he thinks one reason for the defection is that too many of the defectors have forgotten what it means to be British. As a means of fighting the radicalization of young people, he wants all of Britain’s schools to again teach “British values." It is a diagnosis Americans would do well to consider because an unknown number of Americans (FBI Director James Comey says he doesn't have a precise number because they are "hard to track") have abandoned their country to fight...

ItÂ’s time to add to our collection of horror stories from the U.K.Â’s government-run healthcare system (previous examples can be found here,here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here,here, here, here, here,here,and here).What makes todayÂ’s story different, though, is that the bureaucracy not only is denying care to a small child, but also seeking to prevent the family from seeking treatment elsewhere.Check out these excerpts from a blood-chilling story in USA Today. The parents of a child suffering from a severe brain tumor signaled Monday they would defy efforts to force them to return to Britain, days after their...

(Reuters) - British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Friday that a second aircraft carrier, currently being built, would be brought into service, ending speculation about its future. "This will ensure that we will always have one carrier available, 100 percent of the time," Cameron said in a speech at a NATO summit in Wales. The fate of the carrier, HMS Prince of Wales, was not due to be decided until a defence spending review in the second half of next year after a national election, and defence experts had said it could be mothballed or sold. In July, Queen...

NEWBURY, England -- World War I began as most wars do with patriotic fervor and predictions of a quick end. It lasted four years. While the match igniting the "war to end all wars" was lit by the assassination of Austria's Archduke Ferdinand on June 28, 1914, formal declarations of war occurred 100 years ago on July 28 (Austria declares war on Serbia) and Aug. 1 (Germany declares war on Russia, and Russia on Germany). Aug. 1, 1914 will be commemorated Sunday at a charity event to benefit current British war veterans at Highclere Castle, the site of the...

To say that that the First World War was the greatest cataclysm in human history since the fall of the Roman Empire is to put it mildly. The war destroyed so many good things and killed so many good people that civilization has not recovered and probably never will. Long after it officially ended, it continued to cause millions of deaths and tragedies, most obviously during its encore performance of 1939-45. But it did not stop even then. Many of its worst consequences came during official periods of peace and are unknown or forgotten, or remain unconnected with it in...

The UK Royal Navy’s first new aircraft carrier has been formally named the HMS Queen Elizabeth, during a ceremony at Rosyth dockyard near Edinburgh, Scotland. Performed on 4 July by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the milestone marks the completion of the lead vessel’s 65,000t structure, with the Aircraft Carrier Alliance also having started the flood-up of its dry dock before the ship will be floated out later this month. First Sea Lord Adm Sir George Zambellas says the new carrier’s role “will be global, strategic and one of inter-service and international partnership.” Current plans call for the Queen Elizabeth...

We declared our independence from Great Britain 238 years ago this week. It was a declaration long in coming, brought about by the overreaching rule of King George III and Britain's insistence on taxation without representation. The taxation began in the 1760s, the Boston Massacre occurred in 1770, the Boston Tea Party in 1993 and the Battles of Lexington and Concord in April of 1775. Patrick Henry's call to action, "Give me liberty or give me death," was the first strong public statement that, if we were to be free, if we were to have liberty, then we would have...

Australia’s Prime Minister Tony Abbott is seeking out “like-minded” countries to form an alliance to thwart climate policies being pushed by President Obama and other world leaders.

Concern of 'Trojan Horse' plot spreads to three more state primaries as head teachers' leaders voice concerns for the first time over the Islamic infiltration at schools in Birmingham Schools across Britain are likely to have been targeted in an alleged Islamist plot to take over classrooms, head teachers have warned. The National Association of Head Teachers said it had found “concerted efforts” to infiltrate at least six schools in Birmingham. But the union also said that the scandal had “connections” to other large cities. The Telegraph understands that there are growing concerns about the possible infiltration of schools...

The leader of the Liberty GB party Paul Weston, who was arrested on Saturday for breaching a Section 27 Dispersal Notice, is now possibly facing imprisonment for 2 years. Mr Weston, a candidate in the 22 May European Elections in the South East, was arrested on 26 April in front of Winchester Guildhall for quoting in public a passage critical of Islam written by Winston Churchill, using a megaphone. He spent several hours in a cell at Winchester Police Station, after which the original charge of breaching a Section 27 Dispersal Notice was dropped and Mr Weston was 're-arrested' for...

While speaking to the second Virginia Convention on this day, in 1775, Patrick Henry voiced his opposition to the increasingly violent British rule over the colonies. The issue at hand was not insufficient healthcare or an unlivable minimum wage… America was growingly increasingly weary of Brits telling us how to live. (It turns out, the sentiment stuck with us – as is evidenced by Piers Morgan getting kicked off of CNN.) Speaking to the delegates of the Convention, Henry cried the now famous ultimatum: “Give me liberty, or give me death!” And when spoken in opposition to the world’s most...

This week, CNN's Piers Morgan announced that "Piers Morgan Live" would be coming to an ignominious end sometime in March. His replacement has not yet been chosen. But his television demise came not a moment too soon for millions of Americans who had tired of his sneering nastiness. The New York Times chose not to see it that way. Instead, the Times insisted, Morgan's problem sprang from his British accent and heritage: "Old hands in the television news business suggest that there are two things a presenter cannot have: an accent or a beard ... Mr. Morgan is clean shaven...

More than 34 million patients will fail to get an appointment with their GP this year, according to figures seen by Sky News. The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) used official NHS statistics to estimate the number of patients who will be unable to see a GP or practice nurse because surgeries are too busy.

UK armed forces cuts will limit the country's ability to be a major player on the world stage, ex-US defence secretary Robert Gates has warned. The UK plans to cut 30,000 armed forces personnel by 2020, leaving 147,000. ...On the UK's military cuts, Mr Gates told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "With the fairly substantial reductions in defence spending in Great Britain, what we're finding is that it won't have full spectrum capabilities and the ability to be a full partner as they have been in the past." The spectrum refers to the ability of a country's military to fight...

A MAN pinned his girlfriend down and raped her in front of their baby son, and told her she must obey him because he was a Muslim, a court was told. The Mail has decided not to identify the rapist, who is in his early 20s, so his relationship with his victim can be revealed. She was 16 when they met, but he began beating her three months into the relationship and raped her at her home in Hull in May last year. The victim, who gave evidence at Hull Crown Court via video link, said she had not reported...