Free Republic

Bringing cake into the office is as harmful as passive smoking, the UK's top food watchdog has suggested. Professor Susan Jebb, chairwoman of the Food Standards Agency, said workers should think twice before bringing unhealthy treats into the workplace which might tempt colleagues. She told The Times: "We all like to think we're rational, intelligent, educated people who make informed choices the whole time, and we undervalue the impact of the environment. "If nobody brought cakes into the office, I would not eat cakes in the day, but because people do bring cakes in, I eat them. Now, OK, I...

An Evangelical Christian teacher in England could be permanently banned from teaching after he was suspended for referring to a biologically female student as a "girl."Joshua Sutcliffe was removed in November 2017 from his position as a teacher at the Cherwell School in Oxfordshire after he allegedly discriminated against a student by stating "well done, girls" when addressing the student's small group during class. Sutcliffe was the focus of a number of allegations by the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) during the group’s professional conduct panel last week, according to the London-based Christian Legal Centre (CLC).The hearing could ultimately result in...

The U.K. government on Monday blocked a law voted by Scotland’s parliament on gender recognition, the first time that the London-based government has stopped a Scottish law from passing, in a move that will deepen divisions between Scottish nationalists and the U.K. The controversial Scottish law, passed in November, makes it easier for transgender people to get official government recognition of their acquired gender by removing any need for a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria and lowering the age from 18 to 16. “I have not taken this decision lightly,” said the Secretary of State for Scotland Alister Jack. He...

The UK government has blocked a new law intended to allowed trans people in Scotland to change their legal gender without a medical diagnosis – a controversial move that has added fuel to the already highly emotional debate over Scottish independence. Scottish Secretary Alister Jack announced on Monday that Westminster has taken the highly unusual step of blocking the Scottish bill from becoming law because it was concerned about its impact on UK-wide equality laws. Here’s what you need to know: What’s in the Scottish law ? Scotland passed a new law in December to make it easier for people...

A senior Tory minister has blasted the Church of England over its refusal to conduct same-sex marriages. Penny Mordaunt, who ran to become party leader and prime minister twice last year, accused religious authorities of treating LGBT people as 'second-class citizens'.

Keir Starmer jettisoned another Labour pledge today admitting that he cannot stand by the offer of free bus travel for under-25s. Sir Keir said the 2019 manifesto should be treated as 'gone' as he was grilled over ditching a swathe of commitments. The Opposition leader also insisted that Britain would be better off if hard-Left predecessor Jeremy Corbyn had become PM - rather than guiding the party to an historic trouncing.

LONDON (AP) — Chelsea welcomed the English Football Association’s decision to make a homophobic chant aimed at its supporters a punishable offense, calling it a “step in the right direction” on Friday. The FA announced on Wednesday that chants of “Rent Boy,” which have been directed at Chelsea fans by rival supporters, are now considered a breach of its rules. It has written to all Premier League clubs and clubs throughout English soccer to enforce the point and attempt to stamp out discriminatory behavior. “The ‘Rent Boy’ chant is intolerable and has no place in football or anywhere else,” Chelsea...

A horrifying video has shown the panicked scenes inside a church after a gunman opened fire on funeralgoers, leaving a seven-year-old girl fighting for her life and injuring five others. The victims were shot as they exited a funeral service for British-Colombian cancer victim Sara Sanchez, 20, and her mother Fresia Calderon, 50, outside St Aloysius church on Phoenix Road opposite Euston railway station in North London about 1.30pm on Saturday. A police source told The Mail on Sunday a man jumped out of the car and started firing into the crowd as white doves - symbols of peace -...

A Cold War British nuclear sub sneaked into a Soviet naval exercise and took closeup underwater pictures of Russia’s new aircraft carrier. n 1977, with the Cold War in full swing, the U.K. Royal Navy’s nuclear-powered attack submarine HMS Swiftsure (S-126) slipped right into the heart of a large-scale Soviet Northern Fleet exercise in the Barents Sea. The British submarine penetrated undetected through the layered escort screens of destroyers and frigates and meticulously approached the Russian aircraft carrier Kiev. The submarine recorded extremely valuable acoustic signatures and took incredible underwater periscope pictures of the Soviet carrier’s hull and propellers. As...

How does inclusion look? Evidently, it sometimes looks exclusive. Consider the case of UK music awards show The Brit Awards. Last November, the show made a very progressive announcement — in light of enlightenment, it would no longer give separate trophies for male and female “Best” categories.

Paul Johnson, the prolific journalist, historian, biographer, speechwriter and novelist whose public conversion in 1977 from Labour Party stalwart to bulldog defender of Margaret Thatcher and conservatism made him a divisive figure in British literary circles, died on Thursday at his home in London. He was 94. His son Daniel announced the death, “after a long illness,” on Twitter. A writer of immense range and output, capable of 6,000 words a day when in harness, Mr. Johnson modeled his career after earlier English men of letters, like Thomas Babington Macaulay and G.K. Chesterton. With an affable prose style and supreme...

Emergency patients across the country are forced to endure the longest average waiting times in recorded history - with ambulances sent to people suffering conditions like heart attacks and strokes taking more than an hour and a half. Average ambulance response times in England last month were the longest on record - as more than half of people at major A&Es had to wait longer than four hours for the first time since records began in 2011. The latest NHS England figures also showed a total of 50.4% of patients attending major A&E departments were not seen within the target...

He got over £250,000 for 8 hours work at one eventBoris Johnson has declared staggering sums of money he has been paid for after-dinner speaking engagements since being ousted as Prime Minister. Mr Johnson has made over £750,000 for speaking at thre events in just two weeks. Mr Johnson was forced to step down as Prime Minister in the summer after a series of high profile scandals and plummeting opinion polls. Since then Mr Johnson, who remains a serving MP for Uxbridge drawing his MP salary, has been picking up lucrative work alongside his day job as a member...

Britain's oldest lorry driver who still works 12 hour days at the age of 90 is set to carry on trucking for another year after passing a health check. Sprightly Brian Wilson started his career as a lorry driver in 1953, when he began delivering petrol for Esso. And 70 years later, the father-of-four still wakes up at 4am for his 12-hour shifts delivering to various places in the UK such as Rochdale, Birmingham and Newcastle. Just like his lorry, Brian requires a full health check-up from his doctor each year to allow him to keep driving. And after he...

Andrew Bridgen has been suspended as a Tory MP for spreading misinformation about Covid vaccination. It comes after the North West Leicestershire MP posted tweets that compared vaccines to the Holocaust. Tory chief whip Simon Hart said the comments had "crossed a line" and caused great offence. He said Mr Bridgen would lose the party whip - meaning he will sit as an independent - while a formal investigation takes place. "As a nation we should be very proud of what has been achieved through the vaccine programme," Mr Hart added. "The vaccine is the best defence against Covid that...

Counter-terrorism authorities are investigating after a bulk shipment of unregistered—and potentially lethal—nuclear material was ferried off of an airplane at Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 4 on Dec. 29. The cargo, which originated in Pakistan and was smuggled into London from Oman aboard the hold of a passenger flight, was intended for Iranian nationals in the U.K., according to The Sun. “The race is on to trace everyone involved,” said an unidentified Heathrow source who spoke with the newspaper. “Security bosses are treating this with the seriousness it deserves. Protocol was not followed and this is now an anti-terror operation. There are...

More Lies: Biden Falsely Claimed in 2018: “I Don’t Have Access to Classified Information” – While Top-Secret Docs on Ukraine Were Illegally Stored in His Private Office (VIDEO)Joe Biden in 2018 told MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell that he no longer has access to classified information like he once did as Vice President. Biden sat down for his interview with MSNBC from the Penn Biden Center – the same private office that illegally stored top secret materials from Joe Biden’s time as Obama’s VP. Top secret intelligence documents related to Ukraine, UK and Iran were found in Joe Biden’s private office, according...

Britain is considering supplying a handful of Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine, the first time a western country has indicated it may supply its homemade heavy armour to Kyiv in the war against Russia. No final decision by Downing Street has been made, British sources added, but Ukraine is hoping a positive move by the UK could help persuade Germany to follow suit later this month with its Leopard 2 battle tanks. Ukraine has been asking for British tanks “since summer”, a second source said. But the reality is that the UK, with a total fleet of 227, has a...

NEWQUAY, England, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Britain's attempt to become the first European nation to launch satellites into space ended in bitter disappointment early on Tuesday when Virgin Orbit said its rocket had suffered an anomaly that prevented it from reaching orbit. The "horizontal launch" mission had left from the coastal town of Newquay in southwest England, with Virgin's LauncherOne rocket carried under the wing of a modified Boeing 747 called "Cosmic Girl"... ...Virgin Orbit had initially said on Twitter that LauncherOne had reached earth orbit, a tweet it later deleted.

The UK is considering supplying Ukraine with British tanks for the first time to fight Russia's invading forces, Sky News understands. Discussions have been taking place "for a few weeks" about delivering a number of the British Army's Challenger 2 main battle tank to the Ukrainian armed forces, a Western source with knowledge of the conversations said. Such a move would mark a significant step-up in Western support to Ukraine and could help prompt other NATO allies, in particular Germany, to follow suit. ...One source suggested Britain might offer around 10 Challenger 2 tanks, enough to equip a squadron....