UKIP North Cornwall Newsletter

The UKIP North Cornwall Newsletter for April has just been published by Secretary Miriel Demerel-O'Connor, catch up on all the latest news and future events for the very active North Cornwall Branch.  See full Newsletter 

Vote on ACTA, and Latest Information from MEP Trevor Colman's site

Please see below more information from MEP Trevor Colman's thEUnit site:


How should MEP's vote in June, regarding the ACTA treaty ?

Help us - we need your opinion on ACTA - Vote in our Poll 
ACTA is an agreement between the EU, USA, Canada, South Korea and Australia. EU countries such as Cyprus, Estonia, Slovakia, Germany and the Netherlands are yet to sign, and the agreement is yet to be ratified. Its aim is to improve "the enforcement of intellectual property rights", as well as to curb the trade in counterfeited goods. The UK's Intellectual Property Office has backed the measures, describing piracy as a "major global issue". It says that yesterday's signing was important for the UK as it "will set an international standard" for tacking large-scale infringements of intellectual property rights (IPR) as it will create a common enforcement standard with "more effective international cooperation". However, "third party liability for Internet Service Providers is like making the post office responsible for what is inside the letters they send" said MEP Alexander Alvaro, (ALDE, DE).
  
Kader Arif is clearly very frustrated by the Brussels bureaucratic machinery. "I condemn the whole process which led to the signature of this agreement: no consultation of the civil society, lack of transparency since the beginning of negotiations, repeated delays of the signature of the text without any explanation given, reject [sic] of Parliament's recommendations as given in several resolutions of our assembly." said Mr. Arif. "...everything is made to prevent the European Parliament from having its say in this matter. I want to send a strong signal and alert the public opinion about this unacceptable situation. I will not take part in this masquerade."
Read more...
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European Endowment for Democracy 
The concept of the EED has been formed in response to the ‘Arab Spring' and the realisation that the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR), the procedure currently implemented, is insufficient to cope with the situation today in the Middle East. The EIDHR focuses on safeguarding defenders of human rights and has been shown to have a restricted mandate and lengthy procedures that prevent the immediate support of those striving to achieve democracy. The concept of the EED is as a non-profit, grant-making organisation created to strengthen democratic institutions around the world through the support of democracy activists. This support would be non-bureaucratic and not directly associated with EU diplomacy or the European Commission.
Read more...
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Imports of high-quality beef: autonomous tariff quota
Hormones Dispute: In 1988 the EU banned imports of beef and beef products, treated with certain growth-promoting hormones for reasons of consumer protection and food safety. After authorisation from the WTO dispute settlement system (1996) the USA and Canada imposed trade sanctions on agricultural products imported from the EU and in 1999 brought in retaliatory tariffs (on a wide range of European products) worth US$116.8mn and C$11.3mn per year respectively. "Continued application of retaliatory duties on certain European products hampered exports and EU producers subsequently suffered a loss of market share. Canada and the US primarily targeted bovine and swine meat products, with the latter also sanctioning Roquefort cheese, truffles, toasted breads, juice, mustards, jams, chocolate, soups and other products."
Read more...

We Need To Find Out What Is Being Sprayed In The UK Skies

I've written before about planes spraying chemtrails over Cornwall (see article) and people need to look into the skies and notice if this is going on in their area.  Remember ordinary plane vapour lasts about 20 lengths of a plane and then disperses, chemicals stay in the skies and fan out.  Please see the short film below which explains some of the reasons that these chemtrails are being sprayed worldwide.  It's time we asked the government exactly what is being put into our biosphere as this may be a great risk to our health as well as our  ability to grow crops in the future.

Janet Clarke

NEWS 30TH MARCH 2012

RT News - Spanish Rampage: General strike erupts in street violence

The Telegraph - Working class resents Cabinet of rich men, David Davis tells David Cameron
The privileged background of David Cameron and his ministers has created “resentment” among working-class voters who believe the Government is in a “different world”, a senior Conservative MP has warned. David Davis said allegations of being out of touch risk tainting Mr Cameron’s government just as charges of “sleaze” stuck to Sir John Major’s administration. See Article

The Telegraph - David Cameron accused of presiding over 'shambles' on fuel as panic buying gets worse
David Cameron has been accused of presiding over a “shambles” as petrol stations throughout the country ran out of fuel after government attempts to allay panic buying backfired. See Article

The Telegraph - Germany launches strategy to counter ECB largesse
Germany is preparing a raft of measures to safeguard its financial system and prevent excess stimulus from the European Central Bank leaking into an inflationary credit boom. 
The plans have major implications for monetary union, dashing hopes in Southern Europe that Germany might accept a few years of mini-boom at home to help lift the whole system off the reefs.
Andreas Dombret, a key board member of the Bundesbank, said the body would be given powers to check “excessive credit growth” and impose “maximum leverage ratios” to nip economic overheating in the bud. See Article

The Guardian - George Galloway wins Bradford West byelection
George Galloway, the leading figure in Respect, has grabbed a remarkable victory in the Bradford West byelection, claiming that "By the grace of God, we have won the most sensational victory in British political history".
It appeared that the seat's Muslim immigrant community had decamped from Labour en masse to Galloway's fundamentalist call for an immediate British troop withdrawal from Afghanistan and a fightback against the job crisis.
On a turnout of 50.78%, Labour's shellshocked candidate Imran Hussein was crushed by a 36.59% swing from Labour to Respect that saw Galloway take the seat with a majority of 10,140  See Article

The Guardian - Nuclear giants RWE and E.ON drop plans to build new UK reactors
The government's nuclear energy policy is in disarray after German utilities RWE and E.ON scrapped plans to build two reactors in the UK, prompting warnings of serious knock-on effects for jobs and economic growth.
Nuclear power is a cornerstone of the government's low-carbon agenda and the Horizon joint venture, co-owned by RWE and E.ON, was a key contributor due to its plans to construct new stations at Wylfa in Wales and Oldbury in Gloucestershire See Article

Daily Mail - Let's roll out the grammar schools: Call for nationwide expansion after a breakthrough in Kent
New grammar school classes could open around the country after the first major expansion of academic selection for 50 years was given the go-ahead yesterday.
A call went out to ‘roll out the grammars’ after Tory-controlled Kent took advantage of new Coalition rules to announce the expansion of existing schools with ‘satellite’ campuses.
The move is the first significant boost for the pro-grammar lobby since the Labour government of the 1960s launched its still controversial drive to turn the country’s 1,300 grammars into comprehensives. See Article

Daily Mail - Dramatic decline of bees caused by modern pesticides damaging their ability to home in on their hives, say researchers
Bees are in dramatic decline, and scientists believe the answer may be in their homing instinct.
They have found the latest generation of pesticides is stopping the foragers finding their way back to the hive.
French researchers tagged 650 honeybees with tiny microchips attached to their necks which tracked all their movements.Half the bees were exposed to low doses of insecticide similar to what they would find in the wild, and when released, these ones were found to be two or three times more likely to die away from their hive.Meanwhile British researchers, who have been working on bumblebees at Stirling University in Scotland found that when growing colonies were exposed to these chemicals, they were smaller than those not treated.
After six weeks the bumblebees - exposed to the same type of pesticide called a neo-nicotinoid - were up to 12 per cent smaller as it appeared less food was coming back to the nest.
Of even more concern to the Scottish scientists was that the number of new Queens – which go out and find new nests after winter  – decreased by 85 per cent, which suggests a huge decrease in the number of new nests. See Article

RT News - BRICS cite obstacles to growth set by debt struck West
The world’s five largest emerging economies claim the West’s quantitative easing policy is destabilizing their own growth. Should the western cheap cash injection last too long, the developed countries themselves will suffer, experts are warning.
Brazil's President Dilma Roussefftold the fifth annual BRICS summit that while the developed world's monetary policy "brings enormous trade advantages to developed countries, it results in unfair obstacles for others". 
The BRICS summit joint statement, signed by the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa states that the enormous cash slush created by the west to deal with its debt crisis has "been spilling over into emerging economies, fostering excessive volatility in capital flows and commodity prices". See Article

Daily Express - BAKERS TAKE PASTY PROTESTS TO EU IN BID TO HALT NEW TAX 
BAKERS threatened yesterday to take their fight against the Government’s controversial “pasty tax” to the EU. 
The National Association of Master Bakers claims that slapping 20 per cent VAT on hot foods may break European laws.
Chief executive Gill Brooks-Lonican said: “We think we may have a very good case and will be talking to our lawyers. A lot of small independent bakers are already struggling and this could push many over the edge.” 
Members of the association, representing more than 1,000 craft bakers, as well as High Street giant Greggs, are collecting customers’ signatures on a petition to Downing Street. And Greggs are threatening to back it with a “march of the bakers”. See Article

Daily Express - JUDGES CLEAR WAY FOR TERROR SUSPECT TO RETURN TO UK
THE humiliation of having to allow an Iraqi terror suspect back into Britain was facing Home Secretary Theresa May yesterday – after judges ruled it had been wrong to strip him of his UK citizenship.
Three High Court judges ordered the Home Office to hand back Hilal Al-Jedda’s passport despite hearing he was believed to be involved in terrorist attacks and gun-running in his home country.
 It means Britain will have to look after Al-Jedda and his six children.
 The 55-year-old is preparing to return to the UK with his family from their temporary home in Turkey.
 The legal decision is yet another embarrassment for Mrs May who is struggling to maintain her authority in the face of a string of court rulings. See Article

Daily Express - £10BN WELFARE CUTS SQUABBLE 
MINISTERS are at loggerheads over proposals that could see an extra £10billion cut in the welfare benefits bill, it emerged last night.
Chancellor George Osborne called for an additional £10billion in Government savings in his Budget last week and indicated the cash should come from welfare.
But ministers in the Department for Work and Pensions are understood to be arguing that their budget should be spared. An aide to Iain Duncan Smith, the DWP Secretary, said: “From our perspective, we wouldn’t see this as simply £10billion of the DWP budget, and I’m pretty sure we’ll be making that point as and when we sit down with the Treasury.”
And yesterday Employment Minister Chris Grayling said his department should not bear the entire brunt of the latest cuts.
He said: “What the Chancellor did in his Budget was set out a frame-work as a whole and that £10billion applies across Government.” See Article

Daily Express - BRITAIN BACK IN RECESSION ... BUT GEORGE OSBORNE
FRESH concerns over the stuttering economic recovery were raised yesterday when international experts claimed that Britain was back in recession.
Figures from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development suggested the UK economy shrank by about 0.1 per cent during the first three months of this year.
After a 0.3 per cent contraction in the final three months of 2011, the report concluded that Britain had technically slipped into double-dip recession.
The figures yesterday added to the Government’s woes following widespread criticism of last week’s Budget. 
But Chancellor George Osborne disputed the OECD’s analysis. See Article

Latest News from Trevor Colman's thEUnit.com about the ESM

European Stability Mechanism Treaty
The objective of the ESM is to provide financial assistance to individual Member States if the health of the euro as a whole is at stake. This could be considered a useful idea, given the ever-deepening quagmire of debt into which Greece and indeed some other Eurozone countries are sinking. However, closer scrutiny of the Treaty reveals some stark truths; articles that commit and compromise the autonomy of participating Treaty Members.
 The following video considers the controversial points
 ESM Treaty Video 

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All are equal before the law - except the ESM?
The European Stability Mechanism is a treaty signed by 17 Members of the EU. It is to come into force in July 2013 and will take on the role of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) and the European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism (EFSM). The Treaty will be open to non-euro area EU countries for occasional participation in financial assistance operations.
 Read more... 

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EU Stability Treaty: Irish electorate gets referendum opportunity
The hugely controversial new treaty to create a European Stability Mechanism (ESM) was signed on 2nd February by the eurozone countries' ambassadors in Brussels. This treaty, which will implement a whole new set of sweeping rules for the single currency, will be subject to a referendum in Ireland. Although the Irish coalition government had originally tried to avoid such a public vote (perhaps fearing a public backlash against the far-reaching and painful austerity measures that have had to be implemented in Ireland as part of the bailout package it required from the IMF, EU and ECB), the Attorney General advised that under the country's constitution a referendum should be held.
Read more... 

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Ireland to hold Referendum on EST
Ireland's Deputy Prime Minister, Eamon Gilmore, announced on Tuesday 27th March that Ireland would hold its referendum on the European Stability Treaty (EST) on Thursday the 31stof May 2012. The announcement was made in the Irish Parliament. This follows the Irish Attorney-General's recommendation that for the Government to adhere to the country's Constitution a referendum was required before Ireland ratified the latest attempt to save the single currency. Before the Attorney-General's decision it had appeared the Irish Government wanted to avoid putting the controversial, German-inspired proposal to the public vote. It is likely that Ireland will be the only signatory country allowing their electorate a say via a referendum on this latest treaty
Read more... 

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You Tube compilation playlist

For the first time we have identified a few short videos that consider views from both sides of the fence. We feel that this is a story that will gather momentum as it progresses.
Watch the ESM YouTube playlist...

EU: Treaty of debt (ESM) - stop it now!

NEWS SNIPPETS 28TH MARCH 2012

Daily Mail - How to get tough with a terrorist: As UK agonises over Qatada, Italy simply ignores Euro judges and kicks out fanatic
For years, successive governments have insisted that extremist preacher Abu Qatada cannot be kicked out of Britain, claiming it would breach his human rights.
Perhaps we should have looked to Italy as an example.
Yesterday the European Court of Human Rights admitted it is effectively powerless to intervene in the case of a convicted terrorist deported from Italy. 
Although the Strasbourg court ordered that compensation be paid to Mohamed Mannai, who was sent home to Tunisia in 2010 in breach of a court order, officials said they are unable to force Italy to take him back.
A spokesman said: ‘Once the applicant has been deported there is nothing much we can do because he is in Tunisia, a country that is not part of the European Court of Human Rights.’ 
Last night, the ruling prompted calls for ministers to follow Italy’s example and deport Qatada.
The Government has argued the radical Islamist – described by a judge as Osama Bin Laden’s right hand man in Europe – cannot be removed to his home country of Jordan because of an ECHR  judgment. See Article

RT News - Keiser Report: 9-11 Insider Trading and Germany's Elusive Gold Reserves

Daily Mail - No.10 fuels petrol panic: Rush to fill up as drivers are urged to prepare for shortages
Motorists started to panic-buy fuel yesterday as Government officials warned them to prepare for a rolling national strike by militant tanker drivers.
The looming industrial action – expected to start in around ten days’ time to coincide with the Easter holidays – was top of the agenda at a meeting of the National Security Council chaired by David Cameron.
Sources urged drivers not to hoard petrol, but said they should take ‘prudent’ steps to ensure they have a full tank over the next week or so. See Article

Daily Mail - Eurozone finance ministers must raise ONE TRILLION euro bailout for the 'mother of all firewalls' says OECD chief
The eurozone bailout fund should be increased to 1 trillion euros to provide 'the mother of all firewalls', the head of a leading international development body said today.
Angel Gurria, the secretary general of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), said eurozone finance ministers need to impress finance markets with the size of their rescue fund for indebted countries when they meet later this week.
Mr Gurria said an impressive firewall was crucial because the eurozone's public debt crisis was not over despite calmer financial markets this year, warning that the bloc's banks remain weak, debt levels are still rising and fiscal targets are far from assured. See Article

Daily Mail - Battle for the countryside: War of words as biggest planning shake-up for decades is unveiled 
Ministers stripped out 95 per cent of Britain’s ‘impenetrable’ planning laws yesterday but immediately caused fears for the future of the countryside.
Planning Minister Greg Clark brushed aside opposition from conservation groups to signal the biggest shake-up in the planning system for decades.
He said the changes, which came into force immediately, would help provide the jobs and homes needed to get the economy moving again.
A series of concessions divided opponents of the changes yesterday. 
Councils will be encouraged to bring brownfield sites back into use before giving permission to build on green fields. 
They will also be expected to give priority to town centre sites. See Article

The Telegraph - Spain to slash spending as economy slumps back into recession
Spain’s fragile economy has fallen back into recession and the country faces a year of grinding economic decline as premier Mariano Rajoy slashes spending yet further to meet EU demands. See Article

The Guardian - Cost of stamps rises as Royal Mail gets new price-setting powers
The Royal Mail has hiked the cost of a first-class stamp by 14p to 60p, the biggest price rise for 37 years, in a move that pushes the organisation closer to privatisation and has triggered concerns over the impact on small businesses and elderly people.
Second-class prices also rose 14p to 50p in a package of increases announced immediately after the Royal Mail's regulator, Ofcom, warned that an explosion in text messages, emails and Facebook sign-ups over the past decade was threatening the postal network's financial viability. See Article

Daily Express - GEORGE OSBORNE MOCKED FOR PASTY TAX CRACKDOWN 
GEORGE Osborne was mocked by MPs yesterday over his “pasty tax” which slaps VAT on all hot takeaway food – and admitted he could not remember the last time he had eaten one.
Greggs, one of the largest High Street food chains, has warned the measure will clobber sales.
Dozens of smaller hot takeaway food outlets may also be threatened by the move which could see 20 per cent added to the price of freshly-baked pasties, sausage rolls and pies.See Article

Daily Express - MPS WORK JUST 1 DAY IN 4
LAZY MPs will spend just 21 of the next 75 days at Westminster thanks to an extraordinarily generous series of gaps in the Parliamentary calendar.
They left the Commons last night for a 19-day Easter break – in effect working little more than one day in four until June 11.
The MPs are due to take two more spells of time off before mid-June, including a handful of days before the Queen’s Speech on May 9 when she reads the Government’s legislative agenda to Parliament.
And there will be a 17-day Whitsun recess extended by the Diamond Jubilee weekend. They could get more days off when the date for “prorogation” – the formal end of the Parliamentary session – is announced. Most employees will spend 48 days in the workplace over the same period.
Robert Oxley, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “With so many pressing issues taxpayers will wonder why they are paying for MPs to spend so little time scrutinising the Government.”
Even some MPs yesterday admitted the time-off was excessive. Labour MP John Mann said: “It is no wonder we are held in such contempt.” See Article

MEP Trevor Colman Looks at the New EU Treaty!

This is taken from Trevor Colman's thEUnit site and no wonder Trevor is 'breathless' when he found this in the new treaty:

"Breathless

Wednesday, 21 March 2012 11:59
I spend most of my time, not in the European Parliament, but in the UK disseminating as much information as I can about the European Union (EU) and its effect on Britain. Occasionally something comes along which takes my breath away.

Last month I wrote on the emerging arrogant stance of the main players in the European Union (EU) and forecast 'this is how it will be'. Events have overtaken me and we are now into a 'this is how it is' scenario.

Let me explain.

The new EU Treaty (which the UK did not sign) is called The European Stability Mechanism (ESM) created to safeguard the stability of the euro area.

The following are just some of what seventeen countries have, unbelievably, signed up to.

The 'Authorised Capital Stock' of the ESM, a total sum to be stumped up by the seventeen Eurozone countries to establish the Mechanism, is 700 billion euros. How and why that figure is arrived at, we are not told. The ESM Board of Governors may decide to change (enlarge ?) the Authorised Capital Stock at any time, hence the following.

'ESM members irrevocably and unconditionally undertake to pay on demand any capital call made on them within seven days of receipt of such demand'. This means ESM members signing blank cheques for undefined amounts and, without argument, being required to pay up within seven days.

The treaty gives the ESM power to institute legal proceedings but the property, funding and assets of the ESM are immune from every form of judicial process and immune from search, requisition, confiscation, expropriation or any other form of seizure, taking or foreclosure by executive, judicial, administrative or legislative action.

Further the management team and staff members of the ESM are immune from legal process and enjoy inviolability in respect of their official papers and documents.

What does all this add up to?

It means that this treaty will establish an organisational structure that can demand from its members undefined amounts of money which must be paid within one week. It can institute legal proceedings but is, itself, immune from any form of legal process, as are its staff members, their conduct and performance. Further, the books of account and official documents cannot be examined.

I leave you to decide upon the merits or otherwise of this arrangement. Whilst you are pondering, consider this.

Despite not being in the eurozone Britain can participate in the ESM in 'financial assistance operations'. I'll bet it can.

It's also worth mentioning the treaty establishes that all eurozone countries will become ESM members. British politicians have signed Britain up to the Lisbon Treaty in which it states that 'the currency of the Union shall be the euro'. Somewhere down the road, as long as we are subject to the Lisbon Treaty, the threat is still there that we shall enter the eurozone.

Like I said earlier, this is how it is.

Breathtaking isn't it."

By Trevor Colman

NEWS 27TH MARCH 2012

thEUnit - Poland vetoes EUs Roadmap for moving to a competitive low carbon economy in 2050

On the 9th March, at a meeting of the Member States' Environment ministers, Poland vetoed the European Commission's low-carbon roadmap for 2050. Even before the meeting it was unlikely that Poland would agree as it had already blocked adoption of the roadmap in June 2011 when it objected to the target for 2020 being increased to 25%. Although the reference that Poland objected to has since been removed Poland now doesn't accept any increase in the targets for 2030 or 2040.
"Poland objected to the roadmap's identification of milestones beyond what has already been agreed – a 40% reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions by 2030 and a 60% reduction by 2040. The EU has committed itself to a 20% reduction by 2020 and to reduce emissions by 80% by 2050. Poland says such milestones would not allow each country to move at its own pace and decide its own energy mix. “The period the roadmap covers is too long to make such plans,” a Polish spokesperson said ahead of the vote. “It uses a different modelling instrument from what we are using...94% of our electricity energy is from coal: this is why we can only use data that is reliable.”" (European Voice) Despite the veto the roadmap is likely to be discussed again at the next meeting of the EU Environmental ministers, in June 2012, or or during the Irish presidency, especially as the European Parliament adopted the own initiative report of Chris Davies MEP "Roadmap for moving to a competitive low carbon economy in 2050 (2011/2095(INI))" at the recent plenary in Strasbourg.

See Article

UKIP leader Nigel Farage MEP - Student Debate Canterbury - Part 1 2012

The Telegraph - Cash for access: David Cameron's private dinners for donors revealed    
David Cameron has been forced to admit that 15 donors who between them gave the Conservative Party £25million enjoyed secret dinners and lunches with him at Chequers and in Downing Street. See Article

The Telegraph - Will euro last? Let’s see what William Hill says
Treasury forecasters rely on odds calculated by William Hill, the bookmaker, to assess the likelihood of another economic collapse, a top official has revealed. 
In a candid admission to MPs, Professor Steve Nickell said he turned to the betting shop to find out whether Euro is likely to fail in the course of his work at the Office of Budget Responsibility.
Professor Nickell is one of the independent experts brought in by George Osborne, the Chancellor, to make sure Britain’s economic estimates are robust.
Asked whether he thought the euro was likely to fail, he told the Treasury Select Committee the department itself did not "attach probabilities".
“I go and look at William Hill and they actually have the odds of these sorts of things," he said. See Article

The Telegraph - Hands Off Our Land: ordinary countryside to get more protection in revised planning rules
England's countryside will be recognised for its "intrinsic value and beauty" under planning reforms, ministers will announce today. 
Planning officials will be told they have to consider the importance of "ordinary" countryside when deciding whether to approve developments in rural areas.
The concession comes after intense campaigning from environmental groups, who warned that the draft version of the reforms gave developers a "licence to build".
The Daily Telegraph has also been running a campaign, called Hands Off Our Land, urging ministers to think again. See Article

Daily Express - PETROL STRIKE CHAOS TO CRIPPLE BRITAIN
BRITAIN faces being crippled by panic buying and empty petrol pumps after tanker drivers voted for strike action yesterday.
More than 9 in 10 of the UK’s forecourts – around 7,900 – are expected to close after the 2,000 drivers who earn about £45,000 a year agreed to walkouts.
Fuel prices could rocket by 10 pence a litre – meaning it would cost around £80 to fill an average family car – and drivers face hours of queues at those garages still open. 
In a grim reminder of the chaos during the fuel protests of 2000, when truckers blocked the crucial flow of petrol to the forecourts, motorists were warned of the threat of rationing.
Food prices are also expected to soar as most deliveries in Britain are made by road. See Article

Daily Express - RBS COULD BE SOLD TO GULF AT £7BN LOSS
MINISTERS are in talks with Abu Dhabi about selling a stake in Royal Bank of Scotland at a possible £7.5billion loss to taxpayers.
Whitehall sources indicated last night that they have been negotiating with heads of the Gulf state’s sovereign wealth fund for months over selling between 10 per cent and a third of RBS. See Article

Daily Express - EU RULING LANDS PENSION FIRMS WITH £2.5BN BILL
ORDERS from Brussels could see some of Britain’s biggest pension schemes saddled with a £2.5billion bill, economists warn today.
They could also spell the end of many final salary schemes.
The European Commission has proposed rules which compel workplace pension schemes to pump extra cash into their plans to make them stronger. 
But the proposals, known as Solvency II, would increase the liabilities of some of the country’s biggest companies by at least £1billion and maybe as much as £2.5billion, a survey by financial experts Deloitte has found. 
It is feared that the high cost of meeting the EC plans will see many of the UK’s 6,850 companies with final salary pension schemes forced to close them. See Article

Daily Express - BLUNDERS LET IN 50,000 BOGUS STUDENTS A YEAR 
UP TO 50,000 bogus foreign students a year could have been allowed into the UK because of shambolic Home Office systems, a damning report has revealed.
Bungling border officials unearthed thousands of forged documents among student visa forms but failed to confirm applicants were at college, says the National Audit Office. See Article

Daily Mail - Labour led the argument that the state should play a key role in regulation of the Press 
A Labour-dominated group of MPs and peers fiercely argued that the state should play a key role in regulation of the Press, the fine print of the report reveals.
This led to the committee being split and having to take the unusual step of voting on a series of proposed amendments to their findings.
One key proposal, which would reverse centuries of press freedom, was for the state to oversee a new media regulator replacing the Press Complaints Commission.
The move was backed by Labour peer and former newspaper publisher Lord Hollick, who failed to turn around the ailing Daily Express, once the most successful newspaper in Britain, and sold it and its sister titles to Richard Desmond. See Article

Daily Mail - Sarkozy bans imams from entering France in fundamentalist crackdown after Toulouse shootings
France is to ban radical Muslim preachers from entering the country as part of a crackdown after shootings by an al Qaeda-inspired gunman in Toulouse, President Nicolas Sarkozy said today. 
The President said he would block the entry of some imams invited to an Islamic conference next month, organised by the Union of French Islamic Organisations (UOIF). See Article

"EU - The Hidden Local Issue"

NEWS 26TH MARCH 2012

Daily Mail - Two NATO soldiers killed in Southern Afghanistan by man in Afghan uniform 
A gunman in an Afghan army uniform shot dead two NATO troops inside a base in southern Afghanistan today.
The attack in Lashkar Gar appeared to be the latest in a string of 'green on blue' attacks in which Afghan security forces have turned on their international colleagues or mentors.
They have become increasingly common over the past year, particularly since the burning of Korans at a US base in February which led to riots and the deaths of six US soldiers. See Article


RT NEWS - Blacklisted: UK workers fighting job market ban

Daily Mail - Green drive to cover all our houses with eight inches of cladding 'could threaten historic character of some areas'
The face of Britain’s suburbs could be in for a permanent makeover under plans to make our homes more environmentally friendly.
Millions of homeowners will be encouraged to clad the exterior walls of their properties with up to eight inches of insulation in a bid to keep them warmer and cut energy costs.
But heritage campaigners fear the controversial proposals threaten the historic character of many neighbourhoods, if the traditional brick facade and period features of millions of Victorian and Edwardian-era homes are lost. See Article


Daily Mail - Drug dealer who left wife beats deportation due to 'family rights'
A drug dealer who served five years in prison and left his wife and children for another woman has been allowed to stay in Britain because of his right to family life.
Jamaican Richard Blackwood, 36, was jailed for five years for dealing cocaine and heroin to undercover police in Sussex in 2007. But he fought off an attempt to deport him because his family’s human rights were ‘not being respected’.
See Article


Daily Mail - Do German bosses want to shut British Vauxhall factory? 2,100 jobs at risk after leaked report reveals 'plans to close plant'
Workers at Vauxhall's Ellesmere Port factory in Merseyside are facing an uncertain future after reports from Germany indicate that the manufacturing plant has been earmarked for closure.
The news, which could mean the loss of up to 2,100 UK jobs, is understood to come from an internal General Motors ‘strategy document’ obtained by the German magazine Der Spiegel.
In an attempt to turnaround the financial fortunes of Opel - the German sister branch of Vauxhall - bosses are believed to be considering closing the plant and moving production to ‘low-cost’ countries.
According to Der Spiegel, the document states that GM may expand production capacity in countries where costs are cheaper while closing both the Ellesmere Port site and the Bochum plant in Germany. See Article


Daily Express - NOW EU BANS PLASTIC BAGS
MEDDLING EU bureaucrats sparked fury last night over a plan to ban plastic shopping bags in Britain.
Brussels commissars want to outlaw shops from stocking them or impose a wallet-busting tax on shoppers to dramatically reduce their use.
The controversial measure, the latest in a long line of interfering legislation from the EU, is being driven by a so-called fight against pollution.
The European Commission will take the first step to a total ban next month by publishing a report on plastic packaging.
One of the key proposals will be a recommendation for mandatory charging for plastic shopping bags.
The proposals were met with fury last night by retailers and politicians and added to the growing support for our crusade to get Britain out of the EU.
Writing in the Daily Express today, UKIP MEP Paul Nuttall said it would alienate consumers and do little to boost the EU’s stuttering economic growth.
“Whether anybody in Brussels has noticed or not, the economy, both here in the UK and across the continent, is hardly surging forward,” he says. 
“Millions have lost their jobs and millions have never had a job. Businesses are closing down and those lucky enough to be in work are having to tighten their belts as prices rise and salaries stagnate. So you would think that now would not be the time to introduce a new tax on commerce.”  See Article


Daily Express - LABOUR COUNCILLOR 'HOPED MARGARET THATCHER HAD DIED'
A LABOUR councillor has caused controversy by tweeting that she wanted to "celebrate" Margaret Thatcher dying.
 Newcastle councillor Linda Hobson - whose Twitter profile describes herself as a UNISON activist - wrote on the social networking site that she was disappointed to see that former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher had not died.
 She tweeted: "Just put news on to see Thatcher - for a brief minute I celebrated her death - until reality struck - if only.(sic)"
 The comment caused a flurry of outrage on Twitter, which caused the Labour councillor to delete the tweet.
 However, her post was re-tweeted several times and it caused Miss Dobson to block her Twitter account before deleting it completely. See Article


Daily Express - POLICE WARNING AS FLOOD OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS DOUBLES IN JUST A YEAR 
THE number of illegal immigrants caught crossing into the EU across Greece’s border with Turkey has almost doubled in 12 months.
Nearly 3,000 people, mainly Afghanis and Pakistanis heading for the UK, were picked up by Greek police in January and February this year – up from 1,600 caught in the same period in 2011.
The astonishing rise comes as Greek government contractors move on the EU’s busiest illegal crossing point to build an eight-mile border fence. 
But the local police chief has warned that the 13ft-high razor wire barrier will do little more than ­redirect the illegal traffic around it. 
Brigadier Georgios Salamangas, of the Orestiada Police Directorate, said the migrants do not want to stay in Greece but use it as a ­stepping stone to the UK and other European countries. See Article


The Telegraph - Elderly dying due to 'despicable age discrimination in NHS'
A lack of treatment or insufficient treatment is contributing to 14,000 deaths a year in people over the age of 75, Macmillan Cancer Support has found, in what it called an ‘unacceptable act of discrimination’.
Deaths from cancer are reducing in most age groups but at a slower rate in those aged 74 to 84 and are increasing in people aged 85 and over, the report said.
The report, The Age Old Excuse: the under treatment of older cancer patients, said treatment options are too often recommended on the basis of age rather than how fit the patient is. See Article

Outlandish Pensioner's Tax and EU's Increased Payment

Comment from UKIP HQ - Thursday, 22nd March 2012

As around 4.4million pensioners are hit with the removal of a valuable tax break that will cost them around £3.5billion, it has been revealed that the amount of money given to the European Union has increased by £1.8billion since last November.

Budget papers reveal the difference between Britain's real and forecast net contribution from 2010/11 to 2013/14 increased from £31.3billion at the Autumn statement to £33.1billion at the Budget.

The figures not only show that the Treasury got their estimates wrong, but also that the UK is paying more to the EU than ever before.

Forecasts also released yesterday by the Office for Budget Responsibility, the Government's fiscal watchdog, reveal that in 2012 the Eurozone will have a recession, while in every one of the next four years it will deliver output growth at less than half the rate of the world as a whole.

These figures show that by being a member of the EU, the UK's economy is chained to the slowcoach of the world economy.

UKIP Leader Nigel Farage, said: "It is disgraceful that many of the country's pensioners will lose out due to these tax changes, yet the amount of money we give to the EU continues to spiral out of control.

"The Government has got its priorities wrong and these figures speak for themselves."

NEWS 25TH MARCH 2012

Daily Mail - A load of codswallop! Labour MP's astonishing outburst at plan to rename Big Ben tower for the Queen - a 'fifth-generation German'
A left-wing Labour MP last night launched a campaign to stop Big Ben tower being renamed the Elizabeth Tower in honour of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.
Ex-miner Ronnie Campbell said he resented being ‘ruled over by fifth-generation Germans who changed their name from Battenberg to Windsor’.
The anti-monarchist denounced a plan backed by Tory Sir Malcolm Rifkind and Labour’s Jack Straw to rename  the tower containing Big Ben the Elizabeth Tower as ‘a load of  codswallop’.
The MP for Blyth Valley in Northumberland said: ‘I don’t think the Queen would want it. She is probably embarrassed. 
These MPs are only doing it to suck up to her. Big Ben has always been known as  Big Ben and always will be. It is ludicrous to change it. 
‘It would be much better to rename Heathrow Airport or the new London skyscraper, The Shard, after her. At least they have been built in her lifetime: Big Ben is older than she is.’ See Article


Daily Mail - Soldiers stand by to drive petrol tankers as part of contingency plans to stop a strike plunging Britain into chaos
Emergency plans for soldiers to drive petrol tankers to stop a threatened strike plunging Britain into chaos have been drawn up by the Government.
The contingency plans are aimed at preventing a repeat of the turmoil caused by protesting lorry drivers when Tony Blair was Prime Minister.
The results of a strike ballot of Britain’s 2,000 tanker drivers will be announced tomorrow – and both Ministers and well-placed sources in the drivers’ union Unite believe they will vote in favour of a walkout starting on April 3. See Article


Daily Mail - Scots win independence... at least on the Internet: MPs' fury as their own 'dotscot' web address
David Cameron was last night accused of handing Alex Salmond a huge propaganda coup – by giving Scotland an independent web address.
The Mail on Sunday has learnt Coalition Ministers have privately approved plans to let Scotland end its website names with ‘.scot’.
The move will allow official bodies and website owners to ditch the traditional ‘.uk’ address. Plans to let Wales go it alone with ‘.wales’ and ‘.cymru’ have also been given the green light. See Article


Daily Mail - Tory treasurer resigns after 'selling secret meetings with David Cameron for £250,000'
Conservative Party co-treasurer Peter Cruddas has resigned after being filmed apparently offering access to Prime Minister David Cameron in return for donations of £250,000 a year.
The senior Tory fundraiser told undercover reporters pretending to be business representatives that 'things will open up for you' if they donated that amount of money to the Tories.
In a meeting secretly recorded by The Sunday Times, he said: 'It will be awesome for your business. See Article


Daily Express - ‘GRANNY TAX’ ANGER GROWS
PENSIONERS will be harder hit by George Osborne’s “granny tax” limit on allowances than the banks that caused the global financial crisis.
While the Chancellor’s Budget move will cost 4.4 million pensioners £3.5billion, the banking levy imposed to stop City risk-taking will net the Treasury only £455million.
Last night an e-petition calling for the restoration of the higher tax allowances traditionally enjoyed by the over-65s had 6,440 signatures, a day after it was launched by the National Pensioners Convention.
If it reaches 100,000 signatures it will almost certainly be debated in the House of Commons.
NPC president Dot Gibson said Government claims that pensioners were “shielded” by the effects of the recession was “a lot of nonsense”.
Plans to boost pensions by £5.30 a week will not kick in until 2016. See Article
To sign, go to http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/31778


The Telegraph - Ministers plan major immigration crackdown
Theresa May, the Home Secretary, is planning a major immigration crackdown on tens of thousands of people who "abuse" family visas to settle in Britain, according to a leaked cabinet letter. See Article

The Telegraph - Countryside planning revolution: 'new city' proposed for Midlands
A “new city” has been proposed for the English countryside as radical planning powers are to be unveiled by ministers. 
Up to 100,000 homes would be built on green belt in the Midlands near the controversial High Speed 2 rail route as part of a dramatic expansion of housing.
The plan, disclosed by Andrew McNaughton, the chief engineer of HS2, would exploit the new and highly controversial National Planning Policy Framework, which aims to simplify Britain’s planning laws, increase economic growth and provide homes for Britain’s booming population.
If it goes ahead, the development would effectively obliterate the open countryside east of Birmingham to create Britain’s longest continuous conurbation, stretching 40 miles from Coventry to the far side of Wolverhampton. See Article



The Telegraph - Eurozone debt crisis: how Greece could exit the euro
As global companies draw up contingency plans for a Greek exit from the euro, we examine the feasibility of Athens’ departure – from new drachmas to illegality and €1 trillion costs.
It’s a tradition of Greek theatre that the real action takes place off-stage. Much the same might be said of the euro drama.
A second bailout and last week’s repayment of a €14.5bn (£12.1bn) bond has produced a dramatic lull in proceedings. Even the president of the European Central Bank said last week that the worst of the crisis is over. But does anyone actually believe there is not another Act to come?
Not if you look at what is going on behind the scenes. Whatever the politicians may pretend, governments, banks and companies continue to make contingency plans for a Greek exit from the euro. And, arguably, the terms of the latest bailout make one easier. See Article

NEWS 24TH MARCH 2012

The Daily Mail - The cheap drinks war begins: Brewers threaten legal action after claiming PM's minimum alcohol price breaks EU law
David Cameron’s assault on cheap alcohol descended into a fiasco last night within hours of its launch.
Drinks firms threatened legal action over the Prime Minister’s controversial plans to tackle the scourge of binge-drinking by imposing a minimum price of about 40p per unit on alcoholic drinks.
They claim the proposal is illegal under EU competition law. Some ministers are also understood to fear that the strategy could fall foul of the courts. 
Public health minister Anne Milton recently told MPs that minimum pricing was ‘illegal’ while Dominic Grieve, the Attorney General, is also believed to have warned Cabinet colleagues that it may breach European rules. See Article


The Daily Mail - Number of pupils taking Polish GCSE surges 867% in six years as schools use immigrants' children to boost league table performances 
Schools are ‘clocking up’ easy exam passes to boost league table standings by encouraging the children of Polish immigrants to sit GCSEs in the language, it is claimed. See Article


Press TV - BP to drill deepwater well off Scotland 
British oil giant BP has secured London’s authorization to drill a deep-water oil well off Scotland coasts amid environmentalists’ fears of a repetition of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster.
The Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc) said the drilling license for an oil well 128 kilometers north west of Shetland islands was granted to BP after close examination of the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico.
However, green activists said drilling 1.29 kilometers deep by the “accident prone” BP, which only settled billions of pounds of damage claims over the Gulf of Mexico disaster three weeks ago, is a great risk to the “fragile” Scottish environment. See Article


Press TV - Cameron: SNP retreats over independence
British Prime Minister David Cameron has claimed that the Scottish National Party (SNP) are finally on the back foot in the fight over independence, according to media reports.
Addressing the Scottish Conservatives conference in Troon, the Prime Minister passionately defended the Union, saying that his Conservative party will “fight for the UK with everything we’ve got”, British media reported.
“We’ve pledged a decisive referendum that for the first time has got Alex Salmond [the Scottish First Minister] on the back foot for the first time, giving everyone who supports our United Kingdom a cause around which they can unite”, said David Cameron.
He also took aim at Salmond's aide Joan McAlpine, who described the UK as "like an abusive relationship".
Cameron also directly called on Alex Salmond to bring forward plans for a referendum.
"I say this - stop dithering and start delivering. Let's give the Scottish people the chance to make a clear choice about their future", he added. See Article


Daily Express - PAY £100,000 FOR OLD AGE CARE
MILLIONS could be left homeless by a secret plan to force the elderly to pay £100,000 for their care.
Chancellor George Osborne hinted in his granny-bashing Budget that the burden of supporting an    ageing population should not fall on younger generations.
Pensioner groups yesterday hit back, warning that many could be left homeless if the plan to make them use their own assets to pay care home bills gets the green light.
They said pensioners would have to sell their homes in huge numbers in order to meet the soaring costs of care currently provided by the State.
Mr Osborne, already under fire for introducing a stealth tax robbing pensioners of more than £300 a year, promised a White Paper outlining a new system for looking after the elderly and disabled in care homes and paying for home-help services.
The ­current social care system is unfair, inadequate and leaves many vulnerable older people struggling to cope
Insiders believe this will see a rise in the threshold of savings the elderly must shell out for their care from the £35,000 proposed last year by Government adviser Andrew Dilnot to £100,000   See Article


Daily Express - RUSSIAN BANKER GUNNED DOWN IN STREET BY HITMAN
A HIGH-profile Russian banker was in a coma and fighting for his life last night after an assassination attempt by an unknown gunman near his luxury London apartment.
German Gorbuntsov, currently living in exile in Britain, is in a critical but stable condition under armed guard.
Last night friends feared a contract was taken out on his life – possibly originating in war-torn Chechnya – to eliminate him as a witness in an attempted murder case in Moscow. See Article


Daily Express - 'GRANNY TAX' PETITION AS BACKLASH GATHERS FORCE
THE backlash over Budget plans to clobber the elderly by removing a key tax perk escalated yesterday.
An e-petition launched on the Downing Street website against freezing age-related tax-free allowances for existing pensioners and cancelling them for those retiring from next year gathered hundreds of signatures within hours of being posted. See Article  To sign E-petition Click Here


Daily Express - RED TAPE TEARS COUPLE APART... AFTER 51 YEARS
A DEVOTED couple married for 51 years have been torn apart by Britain’s care system.
Now Lillian Coles and her husband Mike, who have been separated by red tape, fear they may never live together again.
 The heartbreaking blow hit the couple, both 72, after Mike suffered a severe stroke and was left wheelchair-bound and unable to perform simple tasks.
 Mike, a retired plasterer, was admitted to a care home with reassurances that he would eventually be found suit- able accommodation to live in with his wife.
 But a year later the pair are still living apart. See Article


The Telegraph - Thousands of households win extra solar panel subsidies as Government loses court battle
Tens of thousands of households have won the right to an extra £500 per year in subsidies for their solar panels, after Government lost its legal battle over the hand-outs. 
In a blow to Ed Davey, the new Energy Secretary, a judge accepted an earlier court decision that ministers' attempt to slash solar panel subsidies with little warning was unlawful.
The Supreme Court’s refusal to hear an appeal means an extra £700 million must be handed over to solar panel owners. This will have to be paid for through energy bills at a cost of around £8 per British household.
It will give extra money to people who installed solar panels between 12 December last year and the beginning of March. See Article


The Telegraph - Brussels offers UK €7.7bn to adopt controversial bank tax 
The European Commission has tried to entice David Cameron into adopting the controversial financial transactions tax (FTT) by pledging to cut Britain's contributions to Brussels by €7.7bn (£6.4bn). 
In a move that has astounded British MEPs, Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the EC, announced that the levy could halve European Union members' contributions.
Mr Barroso has proposed that countries keep a third of the proceeds of the levy themselves and give two-thirds of it to Brussels. Europe's budget would become "self funding", Mr Barroso said, and would cut national contributions by a total of €54bn.
European officials, who backed Mr Barroso's proposal, believed the plans would be acceptable to Mr Cameron because Britain would be able to keep a third of the revenues for itself. See Article


RT News - Global 'water war' threat by 2030 - US intelligence
Nations will cut off rivers to prevent their enemies having access to water downstream, terrorists will blow up dams, and states that cannot provide water for their citizens will collapse. This is the future - as painted by a top US security report.
­The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), the organization that oversees US intelligence agencies such as the CIA and FBI, was commissioned by President Barack Obama to examine the impact of water scarcity worldwide on US security.
And while the prospect of “water wars” has been touted for decades, it may start to become reality within a decade. The ODNI predicts that by 2040 water demand will outstrip current supply by 40 per cent.
­Impoverished volatile states will be worst off
Water shortages “will hinder the ability of key countries to produce food and generate energy, posing a risk to global food markets and hobbling economic growth.” North Africa, the Middle East and South Asia will be hit the hardest, the report states.
And while the coming shortage is a manageable problem for richer countries, it is a deadly “destabilizing factor”in poorer ones. As a rule, economically disadvantaged countries are already prone to political, social and religious turmoil, and failure to provide water for farmers and city dwellers can be the spark for wider “state failure.” 
Among those most vulnerable to this scenario are Sudan, Pakistan and Iraq, which are all locked in debilitating civil conflicts, and Somalia, which has effectively ceased to function as a state. ODNI envisages countries restricting water for its own citizens to “pressure populations and suppress separatist elements.”The report predicts many ordinary citizens will have to resort to the kind of purification tablets currently used by soldiers and hikers to obtain clean water.
Most dangerously, there are whole clusters of unstable countries fighting for the same waterways. See Article  (UKIP Editor's comment - exactly who are the enemy? all the populations of the world  who are being slaughtered for their  warmongering leaders? someone please put the lunatics back into the asylum!)


RT News - Buy Greek Russians urged
A nationwide “Help Greece!” campaign has kicked off urging Russians to buy anything that's Greek. This is to contribute to the rescue of the debt ridden economy.
Rossotrudnichestvo – the Russian Federal Agency for international humanitarian cooperation – launched its action on the 191st anniversary of Greek independence. 
The agency not only calls for Russians to choose Greek foodstuffs, like olive oil and wine, but will also organize various fairs and presentations to promote Greek resorts and real estate. See Article


RT News - ‘Don’t Attack Iran!’ Nationwide anti-war protest hits UK
UK activists from the ‘Stop the War Coalition’ have held a day of action to speak out against war with Iran. Hundreds of protesters took to the streets in 15 major cities including London, Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Bristol and Newcastle.
The coalition’s unit in Nottingham declares on its website, that the United States has always been “tempted to use its overwhelming military strength” to try to make up for its relative economic decline, exacerbated by the current crisis. 
“This means that the target is shifting to Iran and Syria. There are continual calls for intervention in Syria, and the war of words with Iran continually threatens to boil over into a war of aircraft carriers and bombs in the Straits of Hormuz,” the activists say. 
The protesters compare what they call “current hysteria against Iran” with 2002 debates over the invasion of Iraq. At that time they feared war against Iraq was fatally approaching and held massive demonstrations against it. 
See Article

NEWS SNIPPETS 23RD MARCH 2012

Daily Express - UK TO STUMP UP ANOTHER £1.8BN FOR EU
BRITISH taxpayers will have to stump up a further £1.8billion to bolster the EU’s bloated coffers.
It means the UK will hand the European Commission a colossal £33.1billion by the end of 2014.
The huge rise adds further weight to the Daily Express Crusade to get Britain out of the European Union. 
Brussels wants to increase the EU’s budget for seven years covering 2014-2020 to one trillion euros (£898 billion).
The proposed increase would raise Britain’s annual EU contribution to nearly £10billion a year, equivalent to more than £400 for every household in the country.
 A spokesman for Think tank Open Europe said: “It is deeply concerning that the Government has managed to grossly underestimate the UK’s net contribution, especially when it means that taxpayers are paying in even more to what is a flawed and wasteful EU budget. See Article

Daily Express - ENGLISH IS NOW THE MINORITY LANGUAGE IN 1,600 UK SCHOOLS
CHILDREN who speak English as their first language are now in a minority at more than 1,600 schools across England, it was revealed.
Migration pushed the tally of schools where over half of pupils have English as a second language from 866 in 1997, when Labour came to power, to 1,638 of the country’s 24,500 schools last year. See Article

Daily Mail - Oh no, they've turned the Union flag blue! Team GB models new Olympics 2012 kit designed by Stella McCartney for Adidas
Stella McCartney has defended her choice to feature a blue Union flag on the official Team GB kit for the 2012 Olympics after it was met with public outrage.
Produced by Stella McCartney for Adidas, the range, modelled by various athletes including Jessica Ennis, has been themed around a blue and white flag - effectively eliminating the St George and St Patrick crosses from the design. See Article

Daily Mail - Another 1.3m workers on 'modest salaries' to be dragged into 40 per cent tax band over the next two years
The number of higher rate taxpayers will soar to five million by 2014 – dragging in many workers on ‘relatively modest salaries’, Britain’s leading economic forecaster predicted yesterday.
In a stinging analysis, the Institute for Fiscal Studies says the Budget will trap an extra 1.3million workers into paying the 40p tax band over the next two years.
The speed of the increase in higher rate taxpayers since the coalition came to power in May 2010 is shocking, according to the IFS’s analysis of this week’s Budget.
In 2010, there were only 3.1million. At present, there are 3.7million, who earn a salary of at least £42,475, equal to 12.5 per cent of the country’s 29.9million taxpayers.
Paul Johnson, a director of the IFS, said the rapid rise was ‘part of a long-term trend towards the encroachment of 40 per cent income tax’ on a whole new type of worker. See Article

Daily Mail - Granny tax backlash: Fury as full scale of Chancellor's raid on pensioners emerges
The full extent of George Osborne’s stealth tax raid on pensioners was laid bare yesterday.
Around 700,000 people turning 65 next year will be hit the hardest – losing £323 annually with the end of age-related income allowances.
In all, the ‘granny tax’ will take £3.5billion from the pockets of more than 4.4million pensioners. Senior Tories have denounced it privately as the Chancellor’s biggest blunder. See Article

The Telegraph - Sarkozy enjoys election poll bounce after terror killings 
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has enjoyed a significant poll boost in the wake of his handling of the terrorist atrocity in Toulouse. 
Even as political sniping between candidates in France's presidential elections resumed yesterday a CSA poll out put Mr Sarkozy two points ahead of his Socialist rival Francois Hollande on 30 per cent in round one.
Thanks to his statesmanlike role during the crisis as a dependable crime fighter, Mr Sarkozy has also lengthened his lead in opinion polls over the far-Right National Front candidate Marine Le Pen.
Yesterday Mis Le Pen renewed hostilities by accusing Mr Sarkozy's government of surrendering poor suburbs to Islamic radicals and demanded answers on security failings.
"The government is scared, said Miss Le Pen, who is third in opinion polls but hopes to catch up if the issue of domestic security becomes a key campaign theme.
"I've been saying this for 10 years. Entire districts are in the hands of Islamic fundamentalists and I say it again today the danger is underestimated," she said, claiming there were thousands of Islamic militants in France. Experts normally put the number at a few dozen at the most. See Article

RT NEWS - Banking services withdrawn: Madrid escorts declare sex war
Madrid’s high-class escorts have found a way to regulate the Spanish banking sector. The ladies want to have their say in the economy by withholding sexual pleasures from bank employees.
The largest trade association for luxury escorts in the Spanish capital has gone on a general and indefinite strike on sexual services for bankers until they go back to providing credits to Spanish families, small- and medium-size enterprises and companies. 
It all started with one of the ladies who forced one of her clients to grant a line credit and a loan simply by halting her sexual services until he “fulfills his responsibility to society.”
The trade association's spokeswoman praised their success by stressing the government and the Bank of Spain have previously failed to adjust the credit flow.
"We are the only ones with a real ability to pressure the sector," she stated. “We have been on strike for three days now and we don't think they can withstand much more.”
She has revealed that bankers have made some pitiful attempts to use their services by pretending to be engineers or architects. See Article

Daily Telegraph - Why money-printing is like 'global warming'
Here's a must-read post by Aussie blogger Jo Nova – and it's not on her usual topic climate change. The title says it all: The Ground Zero of Global Corruption: it starts with The Currency.
It’s like this. The governments and their central banks make as much free money from thin-air through fractional reserve banking and other methods as they can get away with — it benefits those who “spend that new money first”. They spend it at current prices, and pay it back later, after inflation has decreased its value. The people who pay the difference are those who saved and held money while its purchasing power fell. Speculators grow rich, while retirees and savers get poorer. See Article

NEWS SNIPPETS 22ND MARCH 2012

Daily Express - 5M PENSIONERS ROBBED IN THE BUDGET
GEORGE Osborne yesterday hit five million pensioners with an “outrageous” £300-a-year stealth tax.
The Chancellor sparked anger with a shock £3.3billion Budget raid on the over-65s who will lose tax-free allowances introduced by Winston Churchill in 1925.
Mr Osborne presented it as a way to simplify life for pensioners now baffled by the complex system of age-related perks. But critics said he was wrongly targeting people who had worked and saved all their lives to fund a tax giveaway for the super-rich.
Estimates said that the impact on pensioners would be significant, with some losing as much as £322 a year. The row overshadowed a Budget the Coalition hoped would be remembered for measures to cut the income tax bills of 24 million workers. See Article

Daily Express - BUDGET 2012: AT-A-GLANCE See Article


Daily Mail - Capital gains: Population of London to reach 9m by 2020 as city swells by a million in less than a decade
The number of people living in London is expected to grow by more than a million people in less than 10 years, an official analysis said yesterday. 
Its population will reach more than nine million by 2020 - an increase of 14 per cent in a decade - pushed up by immigration and rising birthrates.
And in a further decade London will be home to more than 10 million people as it continues to draw in migrants and generate young families. See Article


Daily Mail - Top terror expert rejects move to use secret courts for cases other than 'national security'
The Government’s own reviewer of terror laws has seen nothing to persuade him secret courts should be used in anything other than cases relating to ‘national security’.
David Anderson had previously said he did not have the evidence to judge whether the hugely controversial move to hold court cases, inquests and even medical negligence cases behind closed doors could be justified.
Draft legislation would allow ministers to order that civil court cases or inquests must be held in private if they have the potential to ‘damage the public interest’.
Mr Anderson said he had now been presented with all the files by the Government – and there wasn’t anything that suggested a need to go beyond matters of ‘national security’. See Article


The Telegraph - Small business forced to seek ‘angel investors’
Small businesses are having to resort to loans from rich individuals and “peer-to-peer” networks because some banks are refusing to lend to the sector, according to the Bank of England. See Article


The Telegraph - US grip on World Bank challenged
America's traditional grip on the presidency of the World Bank is expected to be challenged for the first time with the nominations for the post from Nigeria and Colombia. 
The Nigerian finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and former Colombian finance minister, Jose Antonio Ocampo, are reportedly being put forward to replace Robert Zoellick who is retiring.
Ever since the World Bank was established at the Bretton Woods conference after the Second World War, an American has always led it. The understanding also upholds the traditional that a European always heads the International Monetary Fund, created in the wake of the same conference. See Article


The Guardian - Greece promotes former banker to finance minister
Greece got a new finance minister on Wednesday, days after the crisis-hit country's interim prime minister Lucas Papademos said he was convinced Athens was "more than halfway along the path" to economic growth and recovery.
Filippos Sachinidis was promoted from deputy minister after Evangelos Venizelos stepped down to take over the helm of the socialist Pasok party ahead of parliamentary elections which could come as early as next month.
Sachinidis is a moderniser and former banker widely seen as a pair of safe hands as the debt-stricken nation navigates its worst crisis in modern times. See Article


The Guardian -British soldier killed by bomb in Afghanistan
A British soldier has been killed by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence has said.
A statement said the soldier, from 2nd Battalion the Mercian Regiment (Worcesters and Foresters), was working alongside an Afghan security forces patrol in the Nahr-e Saraj district of Helmand province when the explosion, caused by an improvised device, happened. The MoD said his family had been notified.
The death brings the number of British forces who have died while serving in Afghanistan since the start of the war in October 2001 to 405.See Article


Press TV - British retailer Game to axe 6,000 jobs
British retailer group Game has conceded defeat in its survival battle after failing to raise new funding, putting some 6,000 jobs at risk in the UK, a new report said.
The group, which was reportedly battling to raise £180 million this week, said it intended to appoint administrators as rescue talks have not made sufficient progress.
Game, which operates 600 stores in the UK and 1,300 worldwide, intends to appoint administrators in the coming days but in the short term it will continue to trade as discussions with its banks and other potential funders continue.
This will fuel expectations that it will attempt a pre-pack administration deal involving the sale of some of its estate. See Article


Press TV - Portuguese protest ahead of new strike over austerity measures
Portuguese workers have staged protest rallies in the capital Lisbon as the country is bracing for a new general strike against the government’s austerity measures.
Workers from Portugal’s largest union confederation, the General Confederation of Portuguese Workers (CGTP), picketed at train and subway stations and waste collection hubs to show their opposition to job losses and unpopular spending cuts.
The protests came as the 24-hour strike is expected to hit transport and other public services across the European nation of 11 million on Thursday. See Article

NEWS SNIPPETS 21ST MARCH 2012

The Sun - Schools ban children making best friends
TEACHERS are banning schoolkids from having best pals — so they don't get upset by fall-outs.
Instead, the primary pupils are being encouraged to play in large groups. 
Educational psychologist Gaynor Sbuttoni said the policy has been used at schools in Kingston, South West London, and Surrey.
She added: "I have noticed that teachers tell children they shouldn't have a best friend and that everyone should play together.
"They are doing it because they want to save the child the pain of splitting up from their best friend. But it is natural for some children to want a best friend. If they break up, they have to feel the pain because they're learning to deal with it."
Russell Hobby, of the National Association of Head Teachers, confirmed some schools were adopting best-friend bans.
He said: "I don't think it is widespread but it is clearly happening. It seems bizarre.
"I don't see how you can stop people from forming close friendships. We make and lose friends throughout our lives." The Campaign for Real Education, which wants more parental choice in state education, said the "ridiculous" policy was robbing children of their childhood.
Spokesman Chris McGovern added: "Children take things very seriously and if you tell them they can't have a best friend it can be seriously damaging to them. They need to learn about relationships."  See Article

Daily Mail - Baroness Ashton called on to resign after likening shooting at Toulouse school to troubles of Palestinian children in Gaza
EU foreign minister Baroness Ashton is facing calls to resign after appearing to use the fatal shootings of three Jewish schoolchildren in France to criticise Israeli policy in Gaza.
In a speech on Palestinian affairs in Brussels, the British EU official suggested that the shootings outside a Jewish school in Toulouse were the same as the deaths of children inadvertently killed in Israeli attacks on Palestinian militants.
Lady Ashton also seemingly compared the deaths in Gaza to the slaughter of innocents in Syria, the rampage by a gunman in Norway last year in which dozens of teenagers were killed and the bus crash in Switzerland that killed 22 Belgian schoolchildren a week ago. See Article

Daily Mail - My hell on earth: Briton facing extradition to Portugal over attack he was cleared of 17 years ago tells of his torment
A Briton yesterday spoke of his ‘hell on earth’ as he faces extradition to Portugal and retrial for an alleged attack he was cleared of 17 years ago.
In his first interview, Graham Mitchell said his life had been ‘turned upside down’ since he was rearrested under the controversial European Arrest Warrant earlier this month.
The 49-year-old photographer, from Canterbury, is hoping the Portuguese authorities – who accuse him of murder, despite the victim still being alive – have made an ‘administrative blunder’. 
But the man he was accused of assaulting, German tourist Andre Jorling, is insisting Mr Mitchell is guilty and told the Daily Mail that he should be returned to Portugal to face a retrial. See Article

RT News - Alex Jones: Obama's Executive Order facilitates martial-law

The Telegraph - Toulouse shooting: French police arrest 'jihadist' in pre-dawn raid 
Gunfire rang out early Wednesday morning as French police launched a pre-dawn raid and arrested a self-proclaimed al Qaeda jihadist over the cold-blooded killings of three children and a rabbi in a racially-motivated attack. 
Police swooped on the house at 3am local time, exchanging fire briefly with the gunman, before making the arrest. The suspect told police he was a jihadist for al Qaeda seeking avenge for Palestinian children.
His brother, believed to be 24, was arrested at a separate location. 
"He claims to be a mujahideen and to belong to al Qaeda," Claude Gueant, the French interior minister told journalists at the scene of the siege.
 He also said the man had been in Afghanistan. "He wanted revenge for the Palestinian children and he also wanted to take revenge on the French army because of its foreign interventions," Mr Gueant said. See Article

The Telegraph - Climate law survives red tape cull
Britain's laws on climate change that push up energy bills for millions of households have been spared, despite George Osborne’s plea for a reduction in expensive green regulations.
Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat Energy Secretary, said he would not scrap or water down the Climate Change Act, after a year-long review into reducing bureaucracy surrounding environmental laws.
The Act underpins all of the Government’s policies on reducing carbon dioxide emissions, from support for wind farms to higher road taxes for more polluting cars.
It costs up to £18 billion per year, the equivalent of £650 for every household, according to a government analysis.
Last year, all Whitehall departments were asked to look at scrapping laws in the Cabinet Office’s Red Tape Challenge, taking suggestions by the public into account.
The Chancellor has said he is “worried about the combined impact of the green policies adopted not just in Britain, but also by the European Union”. See Article

Daily Express - PUBLIC SECTOR PENSIONS ‘TO DROP 20%’
MILLIONS of state workers are set to see their pensions slashed after trade unions lost a Court of Appeal battle against a Government decision to change the way public sector payout increases are calculated.
Until April 2011, public sector pensions rose every year in line with the retail price index. 
However, Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith ordered use of the consumer price index (CPI) instead, which tends not to rise as quickly. 
Unions say the change to CPI will see the value of pensions cut by up to 20 per cent over the course of a normal retirement, costing every worker thousands of pounds. But the move will save the Government £6billion a year by 2014. See Article

The Guardian - Europe faces 'long, hard road' to recovery, US treasury secretary says
Tim Geithner warns against draconian spending cuts and calls on better-off European countries to help their neighbours
Europe is only at the beginning of a "very tough, very long, hard road" to recovery and its future is still a threat to the US economy, Timothy Geithner, the treasury secretary, warned on Tuesday.
In testimony to the House financial services committee on the state of the international financial system, Geithner warned against draconian spending cuts by heavily indebted countries and called on better-off European countries to help their neighbours. See Article

RT News - Greece may not reach debt goal despite new cash infusion
The Greek Parliament has approved the country’s latest international bailout deal overnight. The second instalment of rescue cash for Athens from eurozone countries and the IMF exceeds €172 billion in loans.
­But the International Monetary Fund and the European Commission say the country might fail to lower its debt burden to the specified targets and could require even more loans.
The news comes as more protests are scheduled to take place in the country against the severe austerity measures imposed in return for the rescue funds. See Video

Keiser Report: Guns vs Gadgets (E264)