Free Republic

The scale of rebellion David Cameron faces over same-sex marriage is made clear as dozens of MPs and peers signed up to a new cross-party alliance publicly pledging to resist the move. Almost 60 members of the Commons and Lords have signed a letter to The Daily Telegraph accusing the Coalition of acting without a mandate. In a strongly-worded statement, they pour scorn on the Government’s consultation process, which they say is mired in doubts over its legitimacy. And they accuse the Coalition of “plowing on regardless” in the face of what they describe as an “overwhelming public response” of...

'An encrypted World War II message found in a fire place strapped to the remains of a dead carrier pigeon may have been cracked by a Canadian enthusiast. Gord Young, from Peterborough, in Ontario, says it took him 17 minutes to decypher the message after realising a code book he inherited was the key. Mr Young says the 1944 note uses a simple World War I code to detail German troop positions in Normandy. GCHQ says it would be interested to see his findings. The message was discovered by 74-year-old David Martin when he was renovating the chimney of his...

A young woman dressed in next to nothing lies prostrate on a soaking pavement, one of thousands of binge-drinking revellers who caused chaos on Britain's streets on 'Black Friday'. With just nine days until Christmas, hordes of party-goers ignored the driving rain and freezing conditions to pack out pubs, bars and clubs on festive parties, and many were so drunk they could barely stand. In scenes of carnage repeated across the country, women stumbled in the middle of the road and yobs fought in and outside bars, while some thugs hurled rubbish at each other. To prepare for what is...

SCREAMING mums at schools, dads cradling children... it’s all too familiar to those of us who live in the United States. Hours after the latest outrage the internet was awash with the unapologetic views of those who live and die by the gun. Take this: “No crime would be permitted on my property because I am f****** armed. I can’t wait to kill someone ­legally.” Or this from Alan ­Gottlieb, head of the pro-gun 2nd Amendment Foundation: “There was nobody in that school allowed a firearm. I find that deplorable. I’m sure Lanza felt he could go in ­because no...

Germany’s Angela Merkel and other center-right leaders have indicated they would like to see Mario Monti to keep on running Italy instead of Silvio Berlusconi. The center-right leaders—as well as the two Italian political adversaries—met in Brussels ahead of an EU summit on Thursday (13 December) in an event designed to prevent Italy’s political turmoil from stirring up the euro crisis once again. The center-right European People’s Party (EPP) chief Hans Martens admitted to journalists he stage-managed the whole thing so that neither Monti nor Berlusconi knew the other would be there until the last minute to make sure that...

Britain must use the upheaval created by the eurozone crisis to forge a new relationship with the European Union, Prime Minister David Cameron said on Friday as he fights a rising anti-EU mood at home that could threaten his chances of re-election. Speaking at the end of a summit of EU leaders that secured the first part of a banking union, Cameron played down fears Britain’s future lies on the margins of a two-tier Europe, while eurozone members build an ever-stronger core. “I don’t think Britain is in an uncomfortable position at all,” he told a news conference in Brussels...

The US, Canada, Australia and UK have refused to sign an international communications treaty at an conference in Dubai. The countries had objected to calls for all states to have equal rights to the governance of the internet. But the breaking point was the addition of text relating to "human rights".

Islam is the fastest growing religion in England and Wales, according to new census data. The number of people identifying with no religion nearly doubled over the last decade while the percentage of people who call themselves Christians has dropped to 59 percent, down from 72 percent 10 years ago. The Muslim Council of Britain was pleased with the new data, saying Muslims were playing a “significant part in increasing diversity in Britain.” Of the roughly 56.07 million people counted in the census, 33.24 million described themselves as “Christian” while 2.7 million identified as Muslims, an increase from 3.0 percent...

A lone gunman has gone on a shooting spree at a school in Dunblane, Scotland, killing 16 children and their teacher. The killer sprayed shots at random around the school gym in an attack that lasted just three minutes, but caused carnage in a class of five and six year olds. He then turned the gun on himself. Twelve other children were taken to hospital in Stirling, where one is reported to have later died of his injuries. The killer has been named as Thomas Hamilton, 43, a local man, who had once - briefly - been a scout master...

There has been a huge 13 percent drop in the number of people in Britain identifying themselves as Christian, according to new data released from the 2011 Census. The shocking statistics reveal that the number of Christians has fallen from 37 million to 33 million since 2001. Christians now make up only 59 percent of the population, as opposed to 72 percent in 2001. Meanwhile, the number of Muslims has risen from 1.5 million to 2.7 million - or 5 percent of the population - while the number of people describing themselves as having no religion rose by 10 percent...

Britain’s membership of the European Union has cost taxpayers almost £100 billion since its formation. As David Cameron travels to Brussels today for another EU summit, it emerged that from 1973 to this year, Britain has paid £97 billion ($156 billion) in net payments. … Cameron is due to attend talks today aimed are establishing a single banking watchdog for Eurozone countries. … But the move is being seen as a significant step towards a European super state. … It means national governments will no longer have oversight of their banks. …

Britain this morning lifted its ban on shale gas exploration as it aims to become a European leader in a sector that has transformed the US energy market and counter a fall in the UK’s natural gas production. … Europe’s largest gas consumer, Britain, had put a temporary stop to hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” for shale gas in May 2011, a process in which water and chemicals are injected at high pressure into rock formations to retrieve trapped gas, after earth tremors were measured near a fracking site close to Blackpool. Fracking can resume immediately, but explorers need to operate...

<p>London: Britain's Ministry of Defence says a Sikh soldier has become the first guardsman to parade outside Buckingham Palace while wearing his traditional turban. Fifty family members were on hand on Tuesday as Guardsman Jatinderpal Singh Bhullar as he took part in the changing of the guard at the London home of Queen Elizabeth II.</p>

David Cameron is imperilling the “entire political credibility” of the Conservative Party by supporting same-sex marriage, a Tory MP has said. Brian Binley accused the Prime Minister of chasing headlines instead of making responsible policies. …

Whenever the moment comes when I have to choose the box on the Census that asks me to describe my national identity, my hand hovers over which one to tick. With my fair hair, pale skin and green eyes, I certainly look like I should be picking the category that says ‘White/British’. But by putting my mark in that square, I would not be doing justice to all that I am. Like more than one million people in Britain, according to data from the 2011 Census released yesterday, I am a member of the fastest-growing population group in this country:...

Nearly four million immigrants swelled the population of England and Wales over just ten years, the results of the national census revealed yesterday. The figures show 7.5million people who were born abroad were living here last year – of whom more than half have arrived since 2001. Census officials said they mean that more than 70 per cent of the record rise in the overall population over the past decade is produced by people who migrated into Britain. It said 13 per cent of people in the country, 7.5million, were born outside Britain. Of these, 3.8million arrived after 2001, including...

Fewer than half the population are now married, the census found for the first time It showed that the number of those over 16 who declare themselves to be married has dropped to 46.6 per cent. In the 2001 census the majority were still husbands or wives, at 50.9 per cent. The 46.6 per cent who were married compared with more than two thirds, 67 per cent, in 1971. Just over a third of the adult population, 34.6 per cent, was single, up from 30.1 per cent in 2001. The singles in the census include those in cohabiting relationships. Numbers...

Churches could be sued by homosexual rights activists who want same-sex marriage, the Government has admitted.The Coalition yesterday announced new proposals to legalise same-sex weddings in churches, synagogues and other faith organisations that choose to opt in. The Church of England and the Church in Wales are to be explicitly banned by law from holding same-sex weddings under the Bill. Maria Miller, the equalities minister, promised that “watertight” protections would prevent religious organisations from being forced to conduct same-sex weddings against their wishes. However, she admitted that the Government was powerless to prevent campaigners bringing legal action against churches in...

Britain faces being “governed by fax” from Brussels and reduced to the standing of Norway if it leaves the European Union but stays in the single market, the Prime Minister said yesterday. At a lunch in Westminster, David Cameron insisted he did not want Britain to leave the EU. … He said: “I don’t want Britain to leave the EU. I think that we benefit crucially from the single market and I think it is worth understanding what leaving would involve. You can be like Norway, and you can have full access to the single market, but you have absolutely...

A judge described a graffiti gang who caused £150,000 ($242,000) worth of damage in planned attacks on trains as “talented artists”, as he locked them up for a combined total of almost four years. Keiron Cummings, 21, Alex Rowe, 22, and Billy McColl, 17, targeted train and tube carriages across London in a three-year campaign described as vandalism on “an industrial scale”. The trio, who called themselves “SMT”, caused huge disruption to train services by spraying their tag onto carriages under cover of darkness. But Judge Henry Blacksell said the defendants had “got talent”, and that he would pass the...