Free Republic

British motorists caught speeding or committing other motoring offenses in Europe will face fines and could even lose their licences under new EU laws. At present, motorists using their own vehicles abroad avoid punishment if they are caught by speed cameras. They only face fines if they are stopped by a police officer at a roadside. The European Parliament is on Wednesday expected to vote in favor of new measures that will give police forces the power to issue fines across Europe and to pursue offenders in courts abroad. […] Next year the European Commission will also, under the same...

Ed Miliband still has a two in three chance of becoming Britain’s next prime minister, according to a new election model set up by the opinion polling firm Populus. But the Labour leader has only a 2 per cent chance of winning a majority under the model — as remote a chance as a Conservative outright victory. The imminent general election is one of the most difficult to predict in modern history, with most polls pointing towards another hung parliament. Several have even suggested that Labour and the Tories could get exactly the same number of seats.

So here’s Obama’s opinion: Ukraine should not get military aid from the West because even with American help, Russia would still mop the floor with them. And this, according to the Times, is what Obama thinks will intimidate Putin into signing a peace treaty. I’ll offer the president some free advice: telling Putin the world is too weak to stop him isn’t very intimidating. Yet even if the West got Putin to sign on to a new agreement, nothing will have been accomplished. Putin has been violating the last ceasefire agreement, because there’s no one to enforce it. What Obama,...

Ten thousand Muslims are protesting outside Downing Street and the Ministry of Defence against the publication of cartoons depicting Mohammed. The cartoons – which led to the brutal massacre at the French magazine Charlie Hebdo – were described by the group as a “violation of Islamic law”. The crowd held banners saying “Charlie and the abuse factory” and “learn some manners” as they called for the world to observe Muslim blasphemy rules. The group taunted the grieving families and supporters of the murdered Charlie Hebdo journalists by using the “#JeSuisCharlie” hashtag to tweet pictures of the rally. Men and women...

‘I believe the Russians are mobilizing right now for a war that they think is going to happen in five or six years... with somebody within the next five or six years.” So says Lt. Gen. Frederick “Ben” Hodges, commander of U.S. Army Europe... "American engagement is essential if the West is to deter a revanchist Russia that has set out to “redraw the boundaries of Europe,” Gen. Hodges says... Russian President Vladimir Putin “has done in Ukraine,” he says, “is a manifestation of a strategic view of the world... This level of assistance suggests Ukraine “is not a foray,...

Following yesterday's summary of the utter farce that the Minsk Summit/Ukraine "peace" deal talks have become, the various parties involved appear to be fracturing even faster today. The headlines are coming thick and fast but most prescient appears to be: Despite John Kerry's denial of any split between Germany and US over arms deliveries to Ukraine, German Foreign Minister Steinmeier slammed Washington's strategy for being "not just risky but counterproductive." But perhaps most significantly is France's continued apparent pivot towards Russia. Following Francois Hollande's call for greater autonomy for Eastern Ukraine, former French Pres Nicolas Sarkozy has come out in...

Prince Charles Asks Why Radicalised UK Muslims Have Failed To Integrate Heir to throne blames growing number of Britons joining extremist organisations on ‘search for adventure and excitement’ Shiv Malik 8 February 2015 The Prince of Wales has expressed his alarm at the number of young people in the UK being radicalised and queried why the British values are failing to be taken on board by children who grow up and are schooled in the UK. Charles partly blamed the growing number of people joining extremist organisations on the attractions of danger and adventure, but said the “frightening part” was...

...Sir Richard - who stepped down as deputy Nato commander in Europe last year - has said the UK should be taking a more active role in diplomatic efforts. "Where is Britain?" he was reported as saying by The Times. "Where is Cameron? "He is clearly a bit player. Nobody is taking any notice of him. He is now a foreign policy irrelevance."

Brian May isn’t just complaining about the U.K. government; he might just throw his hat in the ring. Agent Phil Symes tells the BBC that May is “seriously considering” a run—either as an independent candidate or on behalf of the Queen guitarist’s Common Decency project—in the upcoming vote for members of Parliament. The idea, Symes said, has been sparked by “frustration at a system that he sees as failing the electorate.” …

Outspoken British atheist Stephen Fry was recently asked what he would say to God if such a being really existed and he encountered him/her/it after death. His reply was passionate, eloquent, defiant, and irreverent. I wonder what God might say to him. How would the Creator respond to being characterized by a mere mortal as “utterly evil . . . capricious, mean-minded, stupid” and “monstrous,” among other choice descriptions? The first error made by Fry was assuming he would be able to speak at all in God’s presence, having no idea that he would suddenly encounter perfect purity, unimaginable love,...

Simon and Honey Gould, married for more than 20 years and with two children, live a seemingly peaceful life in their handsome five-bedroom house in a quiet British suburb. Simon, 52, is a successful businessman running his own property company. Honey, 49, has pursued a career in marketing, while also raising son Arron, now 18, and daughter Angel, 16. Their wide circle of friends, close family and other relatives lives nearby. Yet this summer the Goulds will leave everything behind – their north Manchester home filled with memories, their lovely, rambling garden, their busy social life – and leave the...

Add this to the list of evidence about, shall we call it, the rivalry between motorists and cyclists: The head of London's taxi drivers' association has compared cyclists to members of the self-described Islamic State. Steve McNamara's comments come just days after London cleared the way for the spread of segregated bike lanes and dedicated traffic signals. "The loonies out there in the cycling world, they're almost the sort of ISIS of London," McNamara, general secretary of the Licensed Taxi Drivers Association, told LBC Radio. "Their views and their politics — if you are not with them — and we...

American threats to arm Ukraine are a "bluff" aimed at making Russia blink as the crisis in east Ukraine deepens, according to senior EU diplomats. Angela Merkel and François Hollande’s mission to Moscow comes following a “radical deterioration” and Western intelligence showing “beyond doubt” that thousands of Russian are fighting in Ukraine, senior diplomats said. The general consensus among Western diplomats, including Nato, is that there is no military solution to the Ukraine crisis although attitudes are hardening in Washington as fears grow that Kiev is on the edge of military and economic collapse. One European diplomat said that reports...

Growing outrage over failures to protect 2,000 girls by Rotherham Council... Pakistani gangs abused girls over 16 years but the council failed to act. ... The former deputy leader of the shamed Labour council that failed to protect generations of children from sexual abuse last night flatly refused to apologise to the victims. There was growing outrage over the failures by Rotherham council, which turned a blind eye while Pakistani grooming gangs sexually preyed on an estimated 2,000 girls. As it emerged that a string of those responsible have gone on to lucrative jobs at other councils – some in...

South Yorkshire Police says PC Hassan Ali - believed to have been placed on restricted duties amid investigation over child sex abuse scandal - dies in car crash . A police officer who was being investigated in relation to the Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal has died following a car crash. South Yorkshire Police said PC Hassan Ali, 44, died after he was involved in a collision in Sheffield last month when was off-duty. It is understood that two complaints had been made about PC Ali, connected to the probe into sexual exploitation of children in Rotherham and he had...

British tax payers have been funding illegal Palestinian homes on the West Bank despite the area being under Israeli jurisdiction, a dossier of photographs has revealed. A report by NGOs, international lawyers and MEPs say the 400 homes erected in Area C of the West Bank, break international law; specifically the Oslo Accords to which the EU is a signatory, the Daily Mail reports. British charity Oxfam is at the centre of the scandal, with Israeli officials calling for an investigation into their involvement. The homes, which cost tens of millions of euro to build and come from a fund...

A British parliamentary committee on Friday accused the accounting firm PwC of promoting tax avoidance on an industrial scale and urged the government to step in and do more to regulate the tax industry. The Public Accounts Committee issued a scathing report, accusing PwC of mass-marketing tax avoidance plans and diverting profits to Luxembourg through intra-company loans. “We believe that PwC's activities represent nothing short of the promotion of tax avoidance on an industrial scale,” committee chair Margaret Hodge said. “The effect has been to reduce the amount of corporation tax that some multinational companies pay in the countries in...

Children aged five will have sex education classes if Labour wins the election. Tristram Hunt said yesterday the subject would go on the primary school curriculum to tackle homophobic bullying. The lessons are currently given only to children of secondary school age.

In what is becoming an all too common occurrence for many British Jews, a UK news presenter is facing criticism for comments in which he appeared to at least partially justify anti-Semitic attacks. The comment was made by senior Sky News correspondent Eamonn Holmes, during a live show discussing recent findings that anti-Semitism in the UK reached an all-time high in 2014. Noting that the study—conducted by the Community Security Trust (CST) anti-Semitism watchdog—points to last summer’s war between Israel and Gazan terrorists as “the single biggest factor” in the massive spike in anti-Semitic crimes, the show’s guests emphasized that...

Former Glam rock star Gary Glitter faces spending the remainder of his life in prison after being found guilty of a series of child sex offences on three young girls, aged between 8 and 13. A jury of five men and seven women took two days to convict the flamboyant star, now 70, of six offences, committed in the 1970’s and 1980’s, including the attempted rape of an eight-year-old child and having unlawful sex with a 12-year-old girl, a charge which carries a life sentence. Judge Alistair McCreath told him: “In light of verdicts, I am remanding him in custody.”...