NEWS SNIPPETS SATURDAY 2ND JUNE 2012

Daily Mail - It WILL be the Elizabeth Tower: MPs support renaming the tower housing Big Ben after the Queen
The tower housing Big Ben will be renamed in honour of the Queen under plans supported by the majority of MPs.
David Cameron, Nick Clegg and Ed Miliband are among senior figures from all parties who have backed the proposal to call it the Elizabeth Tower. A total of 331 MPs have now signed up to the campaign.
It mirrors a tribute bestowed on Queen Victoria, the only other monarch in British history to have a Diamond Jubilee.  See Article

Daily Mail - Students at top Oxford college refuse to hang picture of the Queen because doing so would promote ELITISM
Students at Oxford University have been branded 'unpatriotic hypocrites' after they refused to hang a portrait of the Queen - because she was 'born into privilege'.
Undergraduates at Keble College wanted to spend £200 on a picture of Her Majesty to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee.
But college members - whose alumni include the Duke of Kent’s grandson Edward Windsor - voted against the portrait because it promoted elitism.
Student representative Basil Vincent defended the decision.
He said: 'I think that some saw the portrait as potentially divisive.
'The general feeling was that enough is already being done to commemorate Her Majesty’s Diamond Jubilee.'
Another Keble student added: 'Nearly £200 to support someone who was born into a certain family is not really economical use of money. 
'The Royal family do nothing but sit on their backsides and wave at people.
'They have never had to work in their lives and just live off their ancestor’s money.
'Also, we have a lot of international students and it is not fair to show some kind of political allegiance they do not agree with.' See Article

Daily Mail - British soldier shot dead on foot patrol in Afghanistan after his patrol comes under fire
A British soldier has died of gunshot wounds in Afghanistan after his patrol came under fire from insurgents. 
The soldier, from 1st Battalion, The Royal Welsh was part of a foot patrol to disrupt insurgent activity in the Nahr-e Saraj District of Helmand Province, when his patrol came under attack from small arms fire.
His next of kin have been informed, the Ministry of Defence said. See Article

WeAreChange journalist Luke Rudkowski confronts Bilderberger Henry Kissinger 

From Wikiquotes - "In Haig's presence, Kissinger referred pointedly to military men as "dumb, stupid animals to be used" as pawns for foreign policy. Woodward and Bernstein. The Final Days, chapter 14 (1976)"

 (For more confrontational interviews,  including one with Tony Blair, See WeAreChange.org)

Daily Express - FURY AT BIG BONUSES FOR FAILED BORDER BOSSES
TOP officials responsible for a catalogue of failures at the Border Agency have received £3.25million in bonuses, it emerged yesterday.
The news that one in four of the senior civil servants in the department – behind the Heathrow fiasco and the removal of immigration checks – has received taxpayer-funded handouts sparked a furious backlash.
A quarter of the top civil servants at the troubled agency pocketed bonuses of up to £7,000 last year despite a string of failures – and in defiance of senior MPs. Details of the four- figure sums paid to some 16 bosses provoked outrage. 
Commons Home Affairs Committee chairman Keith Vaz said they had been handed out against a backdrop of border- control failures and must stop – as the MPs had demanded last year.
The Home Office’s top civil servant, permanent secretary Dame Helen Ghosh, insisted the scale and size of bonuses had reduced “substantially” over the last four years as a result of “restraint”. See Article

Daily Express - HE FORCED ME TO LIE TO POLICE, SAYS CHRIS HUHNE'S EX
VICKY Pryce, ex-wife of former ­Cabinet minister Chris Huhne, yesterday denied perverting the course of justice by taking a speeding ­penalty on his behalf.
Pryce, a 59-year-old economist, pleaded not guilty at Southwark Crown Court in London where she appeared alongside the former Energy Secretary.
She will put forward the rare defence that she was subjected to “marital coercion” before taking the three points.
Huhne, 57, wearing a dark suit with a white shirt and maroon tie, did not enter a plea to a similar charge of perverting the course of justice.
His arraignment was adjourned for an application to dismiss the charge, the court heard.
The pair, who were married for 26 years, shared a terse smile before ­sitting together in the cramped dock. Both stared straight ahead throughout the 30-minute hearing, avoiding eye contact.
It is alleged that Huhne, of Eastleigh, Hants, persuaded Pryce to take his penalty points for a speeding offence almost a decade ago. See Article

The Telegraph - Ireland votes for discipline despite pain as it approves EU financial plan
 Country votes yes to European Union budget plans, with 60.03% agreeing to fiscal and spending treaty. See Article