Free Republic

Dear Sir/Madam/Automated telephone answering service, Having spent the past twenty minutes waiting for someone at Bodmin police station to pick up a telephone I have decided to abandon the idea and try e-mailing you instead. Perhaps you would be so kind as to pass this message on to your colleagues in Bodmin, by means of smoke signal, carrier pigeon or Ouija board. As I'm writing this e-mail there are eleven failed medical experiments (I think you call them youths) in St Mary's Crescent, which is just off St Mary's Road in Bodmin. Six of them seem happy enough to play...

REST OF THE WORLD VERSION: The squirrel works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building and improving his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks he's a fool, and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the squirrel is warm and well fed, the shivering grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold. THE END THE U.K. VERSION: The squirrel works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks he's a fool, and...

ITV, Channel 4 and Five have said they will air a charity appeal for Gaza as the BBC is slammed for refusing to screen it. The Disasters Emergency Committee appeal hopes to raise millions of pounds for Palestinians suffering after Israel's three-week bombardment of the region by airing the plea on television and radio from Monday. But the BBC claims that showing the appeal by DEC - which brings together several major aid charities including the British Red Cross, Save the Children and Oxfam - might compromise its impartiality.

Following the problems in the sub-prime lending market in America and Europe, uncertainty has now hit Japan. In the last 7 days Origami Bank has folded, Sumo Bank has gone belly up and Bonsai Bank announced plans to cut some of its branches. Yesterday, it was announced that Karaoke Bank is up for sale and will likely go for a song while today shares in the Kamikaze Bank were suspended after they nose-dived. While Samurai Bank are soldiering on following sharp cutbacks, Ninja Bank are reported to have taken a hit, but they remain in the black. Furthermore, 500 staff...

You all have probably heard about the grave situation in Mosul, Iraq. The email below came today from a JETS graduate living there. Please pray for our brothers and sisters. (JETS is the Jordan Evangelical Training School where Korky and Anni's friends are working, in Amman). Please pray for them and for their family back home who are also suffering in various ways - health, local fire risk, etc. + Please lift up their Iraqi friend (prof at JETS) and his family. They continue to have serious VISA issues and some things have come up today--please pray for God's protection...

The last remaining survivor of the sinking of WWII battle cruiser HMS Hood in May 1941 has died at the age of 85, his naval association has said.

New Defence Minister John Hutton has been described as an "uber-moderniser," and brings a reputation for low-key competence to Britain's military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The (UK) government is planning further big cuts to the Royal Navy after deciding that terrorism is the only serious threat to Britain. Annual accounts from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) show that it is to cut funding for new ships and equipment by more than 20%, from about £1.8 billion a year to a maximum of £1.4 billion. The cuts come as the MoD tries to fill a £2 billion shortfall in its budget over the next three years. Overspending has left funding even for this year uncertain. They will force the navy to shrink its commitments around the...

Iran has really gone and done it now. No, they haven't sent their first nuclear sub in to the Persian Gulf . They are about to launch something much more deadly -- next week the Iran Bourse will open to trade oil, not n dollars but in Euros' This apparently insignificant event has consequences far greater for the US people, indeed all for us all, than is imaginable. Currently almost all oil buying and selling is in US-dollars through exchanges in London and New York . It is not accidental they are both US-owned. The Wall Street crash in 1929...

The time limit for abortions may be reduced from 24 weeks to between 22 and 12 weeks with MPs set to vote on abortion laws

Early concept work has begun on the UK's next generation of ballistic missile submarines. However, critics of the government's plan to renew the Trident strategic weapon system contend that the deterrent debate is by no means over. Denise Hammick and Richard Scott report In an office suite at BAE Systems' Barrow-in Furness shipyard in northwest England, the first steps are being taken towards the design and build of a new generation of ballistic missile submarines. The aim of the concept is to ensure that the UK can continue to deploy a submerged strategic nuclear deterrent capability for at least another...

An interview with Wafa Sultan

Telling it like it is!

Quentin Davies letter June 26th, 2007 by Tom “I have been a member of the Conservative Party for over 30 years, and have served for 20 years in the Parliamentary Party, in a variety of backbench and front bench roles. “This has usually been a great pleasure, and always a great privilege. It is therefore with much sadness that I write you this letter. But you are entitled to know the truth. “Under your leadership the Conservative Party appears to me to have ceased collectively to believe in anything, or to stand for anything. “It has no bedrock. It exists...

HMS Astute named and levered out the build hall!

The British are feeling the pinch in relation to recent kidnapping of Navy personnel and terrorist threats from Iran, and have raised their security level from "Miffed" to "Peeved." Soon, though, security levels may be raised yet again to "Irritated" or even "A Bit Cross." Londoners have not been "A Bit Cross" since the blitz in 1940 when tea supplies all but ran out. Terrorists themselves have been re-categorized from "Tiresome" to "A Bloody Nuisance." The last time the British issued a "Bloody Nuisance" warning level was during the great fire of 1666. Also, the French government announced yesterday that...

The naming ceremony and roll out for launch of the first of class fast Astute Submarine on 8th June 2007 will be followed by an open weekend on 9 -10 June 2007. The Launch Celebration also coincides with the 25th anniversary of the Falklands conflict. Following the naming and roll out ceremony we are hosting an event which will feature a number of Royal Navy vessels and the decommissioned Oberon class submarine Onyx, which served in the South Atlantic during the conflict. There will be displays from the Army and Navy, and Land Systems will also be rolling out their...

Action in Afghanistan.

Two British sailors have been killed in an accident aboard the nuclear submarine HMS Tireless, the Ministry of Defence said. The accident took place while the submarine was submerged under the Arctic icecap during a joint British-American exercise, a spokesman said. A piece of air-purification equipment in the forward section of the submarine was thought to be responsible for the accident, he added. The accident took place on board the Trafalgar class nuclear submarine at 4.20am on Wednesday. The forward compartment was damaged in the accident and the crew were forced to surface quickly through the ice. A third submariner...

LONDON (Reuters) - Parliament backed Prime Minister Tony Blair's plans to renew the country's nuclear arsenal on Wednesday as opposition votes helped Blair survive a major rebellion by members of his own party. Eighty-seven Labour MPs voted against his plan to spend 15 to 20 billion pounds on new nuclear-armed submarines to replace ones that go out of service in about 2024. It was the biggest rebellion against Blair since a 2003 vote backing war in Iraq and the largest rebellion on a domestic issue in Blair's decade in power. The revolt could have overturned Blair's 67-seat majority in the...