Free Republic

James Kirkup and Robert Winnett’s excellent piece for The Telegraph should be the first item the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary read this morning. The article is important because it reveals in stark terms exactly what the Treaty of Lisbon is all about in the minds of the unelected Brussels elites – a golden opportunity to dramatically expand the supranational powers of the EU over the affairs of independent European nation states, including that of Great Britain. The Telegraph article records the views of the EU’s newly installed Ambassador to the United States, Joao Vale de Almeida, who now claims...

LONDON – President Barack Obama has arrived at Buckingham Palace for a private meeting with Queen Elizabeth II. Several thousand well-wishers crowded the traffic circle in front of the gated palace on Wednesday to cheer and wave as the limousine carrying Obama and first lady Michelle Obama rolled past. On the eve of a global economic summit, Obama promised world leaders he would listen, not lecture, as they seek a common fix to the financial crisis. "We can only meet this challenge together," he said Wednesday as the U.S. and Russia spoke on the summit sidelines about nuclear warhead reduction....

Armed robbers who held up a money courier made off with his first aid kit instead of the suitcase full of cash.The two bandits pursued the courier at high speed before shooting at his vehicle and forcing him to stop on a road in Gronau, Germany.Forcing the boot open, one of the crooks snatched a case before fleeing again. But instead of taking the money, he made off with a first aid kit.Police spokesman Johann Steinlitz said: "If there was an award for the dumbest crooks they would certainly be in the running."But even though they did not get what...

Palace IntrigueBy Taki One of the first letters of congratulations I received when I began writing the Atticus column for the London Sunday Times in 1994 was from … Princess Diana. I had only met her once and very briefly, at a ball, so I was flattered that she remembered. (I had been rather tipsy at the time.) When the spin doctors of the estranged Waleses, as the royal couple used to be referred to by the press, first began battling in earnest over media coverage, I received not a small amount of “inside” gossip from their respective publicists. Without...