The BBC has wasted no time expressing its unreserved joy at the news Lancashire County Council has rejected a planning application from Cuadrilla to drill for shale gas near Blackpool. The decision – which appears to be based on little
Nearly 5,000 people have signed a petition protesting a proposal to turn a Catholic hospital chapel into a Muslim prayer room. The chapel of St Raphael at North Manchester General Hospital has been open for 15 years and is one
Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA) has warned that weapons capable of firing 1,000 rounds per minute are being smuggled into Britain by criminal gangs as fears grow of a “copycat” attack after the Tunisia beach massacre. More than 30 Britons
At least 30 Britons are expected to among the victims of Friday’s Tunisia terror attack, the BBC reports. So far 15 of the 38 confirmed dead are British, with the country paying by far the highest price in terms of
Rising immigration helped push the UK population up by almost half a million in just 12 months. Net migration rose to almost 260,000 last year, which when added to the natural growth of births over deaths comes to just under
Britain has doubled its usage of biomass to generate electricity in the space of a year – despite repeated warnings that the “renewable energy source” generates even more CO2 than traditional fossil fuels. New statistics from the Department for Energy
Three London teenagers have invented a condom that changes colour if the wearer has a sexually transmitted disease. The condoms, made from a rubber called S.T.EYE, react to various pathogens that cause STDs, turning green for chlamydia, blue for syphilis,
The Queen’s treasurer issued an unprecedented statement last night as Buckingham Palace was forced into a humiliating climb down over claims the Scottish government was to cut royal funding. Sir Alan Reid, who holds the title ‘Keeper of the Privy
Argentina has appointed a general who served in the occupying forces during the Falklands War as its new army chief. Ricardo Luis Cundom was chosen by President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner as a replacement for General César Milani who stood
Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA) has said it has identified about 300 possible suspects in an investigation into child sex abuse in the town of Rotherham. Steve Baldwin, senior investigating officer at the NCA, said the 1,400 victims in the
A leaked EU report has shown that Nobel Prize-winning scientist Sir Tim Hunt, who was hounded out of his academic positions for making sexist remarks, was actually joking when he made the comments. Sir Tim was forced to resign from
Scotland’s nationalist government has been accused of refusing to pay its share of the costs of funding the monarchy, as royal sources revealed the Queen may have to move out of Buckingham Palace while a massive refurbishment takes place. The
More government departments have revealed their plans to fly the rainbow flag during London’s gay pride march this weekend. There were reports Monday of a split in the government between the Foreign Office – who have declined the fly the
A former Labour MP accused of multiple child sex offences made official visits to parliament even though he had been diagnosed with dementia so severe that he could not stand trial. Lord Janner visited Westminster three times even though medics
The tiny Pacific territory of Pitcairn has passed a law allowing same-sex marriage – despite having only 48 inhabitants, no gay couples and potentially no one to officiate any such wedding. The British Overseas Territory initially passed the law on
An evangelical Christian pastor has said he would rather go to prison than withdraw a comment calling Islam “satanic”. Pastor James McConnell of the Whitewell Metropolitan Tabernacle in Belfast, Northern Ireland, is facing prosecution under the Communications Act 2003 for
Some 185,000 people applied for asylum in an EU country in the first quarter of 2015, up 90 per cent from the previous year, new figures reveal. According to the EU’s statistics agency Eurostat the number of people seeking asylum
A London police officer appeared to remove his ‘Help for Heroes’ wristband after being criticised by Islamist hate preacher Anjem Choudary. A video uploaded to Youtube shows Choudary walking up to the officer and asking him whether he is a
One out of every 35 men in Britain have paedophile tendencies, crime chiefs believe. According to analysis by the National Crime Agency (NCA), up to three quarters of a million men may have a sexual attraction to children, with 250,000
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), formerly one of Britain’s most respected charities, has elected a radical vegan who compared farming to the Holocaust to its governing board. Peta Watson-Smith, who outraged Jewish leaders with
A vicar has criticised plans to drape a giant rainbow flag from the steps of York Minster in solidarity with gay and transsexual rights, describing it as “provocative” and “offensive”. The Rev Melvin Tinker, whose parish is within the Anglican
Eight Nobel prizewinning scientists have rallied to the defence of Sir Tim Hunt, the British scientist who was forced to resign his honorary professorship at University College London (UCL) after making comments on the “trouble with girls” in laboratories. Sir
A man who kept a harem of sex slaves in Oldham, Greater Manchester, subjecting them to rape and torture over a 14-year period, has been sentenced to life imprisonment. Iqbal Ali, 33, kept four women as his slaves, often subjecting
Despite repeated attempts by green advocates and local government to stir up interest, Britons are less concerned than ever about electric cars. According to a survey by the Department for Transport, 56 per cent of the public have never considered
Britain is set to give an extra £16m to a foreign aid to a project that funded Ethiopia’s version of the Spice Girls, despite warnings that it will be a waste of money. The Department for International Development (DfID) is
Margaret Thatcher accused the BBC of “assisting the enemy” during the Falklands War by broadcasting the moves British troops were likely to make before they actually happened, new documents reveal. Baroness Thatcher wrote that she was “very angry” at how
LONDON, United Kingdom – EU chiefs are so ideologically committed to the euro that they may not let Greece leave the currency even if it defaults on its debts, Germany’s leading Eurosceptic has said. Speaking to a meeting of the
LONDON, United Kingdom – England’s most senior Catholic clergyman has said that Pope Francis’s encyclical on the environment will cause “disquiet” for big business in Britain and abroad with its critique of global capitalism. Speaking against a backdrop of the
London mayor Boris Johnson has been filmed telling a taxi driver to “f*** off and die” in a late night argument on a London street. Johnson was cycling down the street when the passing driver shouted at home, accusing him
The Argentine province of Salta has passed a law forcing people to sing a song at every public event declaring that the Falkland Islands belong to Argentina. The law will also require every state school in the province to sing
A sex attacker from Dagenham, east London targeted Muslim women because he had a fetish for hijabs. Emmanuel Ndegwe, 25, was jailed in March for forcing himself on several Somali women after following them into their homes in 2013 and
Britain’s Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond has ordered UK embassies around the world to not fly the gay rainbow flag during pride marches. According to the Daily Mail the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in London will also not fly the
The number of abortions in England and Wales has hit an 11-year low, continuing a downward trend that has been going since 2007. There has, however, been a rise in the number of women who have had more than one
Britain should take in more Mediterranean migrants, a senior UN official has said. Peter Sutherland, who is the UN Secretary General’s special representative on international migration, said the UK was not accepting its fair share, adding that unless it allowed
Nearly half of Britons think refugees should be turned away from the country, new research reveals. A Yougov poll for the Islamic Relief group found that 42 per cent do not think Britain should welcome refugees from foreign conflicts, compared
About 3,000 people are expected to march in Belfast today calling for the introduction of gay marriage in Northern Ireland. The province is the now the only part of the British Isles where civil marriage has not been redefined to
A Muslim nursery worker has lost a legal battle to wear a traditional Islamic dress at work after it was deemed a tripping hazard. Tamanna Begum, a Sunni Muslim from Essex, wanted to wear the head-to-toe gown – known as
The Mayor of Paris has been accused of actively trying to help migrants reach Britain. Anne Hidalgo, the city’s Socialist mayor, has revealed plans for a “welcome centre” for migrants who have so far been sleeping in makeshift camps on
LONDON, United Kingdom – The Pope’s forthcoming encyclical on the environment will be ‘overtly political’, a senior member of one of the world’s biggest Catholic charities has said. Graham Gordon, head of public policy at Cafod, told a meeting of
Muslims living in the Arctic Circle have been forced to come up with new rules for Ramadan when they are expected for fast from sunrise to sunset – as the region has 24-hour sunshine. Ramadan begins on 18 June this
