Free Republic

A PETITE blonde knocked out a Coldstream Guard, hurled another into a disco sound deck and battered one of their wives at a dinner dance. Martial arts instructor Ashley Wolfe - who is just 5ft 3in - went berserk when male soldiers kissed and danced with each other, pretending to be gay. The 24-year-old Canadian, in a striking red satin dress, yelled "This should not be allowed in the British Army" - then went on a rampage, knocking over burly soldiers from the elite regiment like skittles.

Don't listen to the liberals - Right-wingers really are nicer people, latest research shows George Orwell once wrote that politics was closely related to social identity. 'One sometimes gets the impression,' he wrote in The Road To Wigan Pier, 'that the mere words socialism and communism draw towards them with magnetic force every fruit-juice drinker, nudist, sandal-wearer, sex-maniac, Quaker, nature-cure quack, pacifist and feminist in England'. Orwell was making an observation. But today a whole body of academic research shows he was correct: your politics influence the manner in which you live your life. And the news is not so...

George Orwell once wrote that politics was closely related to social identity. 'One sometimes gets the impression,' he wrote in The Road To Wigan Pier, 'that the mere words socialism and communism draw towards them with magnetic force every fruit-juice drinker, nudist, sandal-wearer, sex-maniac, Quaker, nature-cure quack, pacifist and feminist in England'. Orwell was making an observation. But today a whole body of academic research shows he was correct: your politics influence the manner in which you live your life. And the news is not so good for those on the political Left. There is plenty of data that shows...

A girl of 12 brought up by her parents on a strict vegan diet has been admitted to hospital with a degenerative bone condition said to have left her with the spine of an 80-year-old. Doctors are under pressure to report the couple, from Glasgow, to police and social workers amid concerns her health and welfare may have been neglected in pursuit of their beliefs. The youngster, fed on a strict meat- and dairy-free diet from birth, is being treated at the city’s Royal Hospital for Sick Children. She is said to have a severe form of rickets and to...

After a nightmare evening trapped between two egos, Sabine Durrant set out to discover when and why men started boring for Britain Recently, at a friend's 40th birthday dinner, I sat between an advertising executive who expounded on his son's musical talent and academic promise, and a commercial lawyer who was keen to drum home the possessive in the phrase "my team". 'There seem to be genuinely primitive pairings between vivacious, chatty women and men who are the opposite' By pudding, I wanted to push back my chair and introduce them. "John, meet Josh. You've a lot in common. He's...

Conservative bloggers and talk radio hosts have noticed the rash of gaffes — some goofy, some more serious — emanating from Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama lately, but the mainstream media’s coverage of Obama’s bouts with foot-in-mouth disease has been sparse, to say the least. In the case of one of Obama’s more recent gaffes, however, a CNN reporter did Obama the favor of editing the gaffe right out of his story. On Monday, Obama weirdly talked about honoring the nation’s “unbroken line of fallen heroes — and I see many of them in the audience today.” In a report...

Muslim scientists and clerics have called for the adoption of Mecca time to replace GMT, arguing that the Saudi city is the true centre of the Earth. ...SNIP... The meeting also reviewed what has been described as a Mecca watch, the brainchild of a French Muslim.br>

When the U.S. Navy deploys a battle fleet on exercises, it takes the security of its aircraft carriers very seriously indeed. At least a dozen warships provide a physical guard while the technical wizardry of the world's only military superpower offers an invisible shield to detect and deter any intruders. That is the theory. Or, rather, was the theory. Uninvited guest: A Chinese Song Class submarine, like the one that sufaced by the U.S.S. Kitty Hawk American military chiefs have been left dumbstruck by an undetected Chinese submarine popping up at the heart of a recent Pacific exercise and close...

Prominent politicians, religious groups and some alumni were outraged yesterday at Columbia University's decision to allow the accused terrorist and Holocaust denier to spew his hate on campus. Even as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad backed off his insensitive plans to visit Ground Zero, critics blasted Columbia for inviting him to speak on Monday. Abe Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, called Ahmadinejad's planned visit "a perversion of the concept of freedom of speech." "There's no requirement, no moral imperative, to give him a platform that he will not give in Tehran," Foxman said of Ahmadinejad - who has declared...

Steve Jobs, Apple’s showman nonpareil, provided the first public glimpse of the iPhone last week — gorgeous, feature-laden and pricey. While following the master magician’s gestures, it was easy to overlook a most disappointing aspect: like its slimmer iPod siblings, the iPhone’s music-playing function will be limited by factory-installed “crippleware.” If “crippleware” seems an unduly harsh description, it balances the euphemistic names that the industry uses for copy protection. Apple officially calls its own standard “FairPlay,” but fair it is not. The term “crippleware” comes from the plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit, Melanie Tucker v. Apple Computer Inc., that is...